South African utility Eskom has activated a 20 MW/100 MWh Hex battery energy storage system (BESS) in Worcester, Western Cape, touted as Africa's largest.

The Hex BESS is the initial project under Eskom's battery storage rollout, a response to the country's prolonged electricity crisis. Eskom plans a two-phase initiative across 12 sites, encompassing 1,440 MWh per day of battery storage and 60 MW of solar.

The national grid faces load shedding due to infrastructure failures and aging coal plants. The BESS rollout aligns with President Cyril Ramaphosa's 500 MW BESS initiative to address capacity constraints and reduce load shedding.

However, there is still a major shortfall in supply, on the order of several gigawatts. Efforts by Premier Alan Winde to devolve electricity provision have only just begun, and the new planned provincial electricity supplier has not yet worked out the kinks in jurisdiction - namely how much will it clash with NERSA's authority to gatekeep private electricity provision.

However, any new capacity added to the grid has generally been welcomed by all parties.

Battery storage is necessary to avoid the peaks and troughs of unstable sources of electricity, such as wind turbines.