South Africa is gradually easing its electricity supply constraints as rooftop solar panels installed by households and businesses contribute increasingly to the national grid.

Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy Samantha Graham-Maré said rooftop solar installations have generated 7.3 gigawatts of electricity so far this year, surpassing the output of all Independent Power Producers and providing a significant buffer for the state-owned utility Eskom. Private solar capacity now accounts for roughly 5 percent of national electricity demand.

The decline in overall demand has allowed Eskom to take certain units offline for essential maintenance. “We don't want to create a false narrative that we're completely out of the woods. We still have aging infrastructure. We still have power stations that need to be decommissioned in five years. But our generation is on the hill,” Graham-Maré said.

South Africa has faced chronic electricity shortages, including stage 6 load-shedding in 2023, when daily power outages lasted up to 12 hours. The growth of rooftop solar, along with operational improvements at Eskom, has helped reduce outages. The utility reported its first full-year profit in eight years, recording 16 billion rand (approximately 927 million US dollars) for the financial year ending March 2025.