South Africa is about to have a gas supply crisis.
Hundreds of South African factories, making everything from steel and glass to beer and soft drinks, depend on piped gas for industrial heat. Some factories, like steel mills and glass plants, can’t simply switch to solar. A glass furnace operates at over 1,400 degrees Celsius and requires sustained combustion heat that electricity cannot deliver yet at comparable cost or scale.
For others, like breweries and food manufacturers, electricity could theoretically substitute for gas. But it would cost six times more than the current piped gas they use, making their products uncompetitive overnight.
