When the Lights Went Out in Meadowdale: Why Backup Power Matters More Than Ever
An unplanned outage hit Meadowdale in August 2025, highlighting the risks businesses face when power fails outside the scheduled loadshedding. One business owner spent close to R60,000 on generator fuel to stay open; while others were forced to close. Bigfisch’ s own Meadowdale offices continued operating because of solar already installed on site.
The incient highlighted an important distinction: businesses need to plan for unexpected power failures, not just scheduled load shedding.
Table of Contents:
- What happened in Meadowdale?
- Why wasn’t this just loadshedding?
- What does downtime cost a business?
- How did some businesses keep their doors open?
- What does Bigfisch do, end to end?
- How should a business prepare for an unplanned outage?
- Frequently asked questions
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What happened in Meadowdale?
When electricity supply is interrupted for an extended period, businesses must decide how to maintain essential operations or whether thay can afford to close temporarily. For companies that rely on refrigeration, machinery, computers, lighting or other electrical equipment, an unexpected outage can quickly become an operational and financial problem.
One local business reportedly spent close to R60,000 on diesel to keep its operations running during the outage. For Bigfisch Projects’ offices are also in Meadowdale, the incident reinforced the importance of planning for power interruptions beyond scheduled load shedding.
Why this wasn’t just load shedding
Load shedding follows a published schedule, giving businesses an opportunity to plan around expected interruptions. Unplanned outages are different; they can result from infrastructure faults or damage and may occur without notice, making it harder to prepare for disruption.
A business that plans only for scheduled load shedding may not have the capacity or contingency arrangements needed for a prolonged interruption. Backup power planning should therefore consider both predictable interruptions and unexpected failures, with the solution sized round the business's opertional priorities.
What does downtime cost a business?
The cost of a power outage extends beyond the electricity suply itself. Depending on the business, downtime can mean lost sales, spoiled stock, interrupted production, delayed ordered, idle staff and missed customer commitments.
These costs vary by sector and by how ling opertions are affected. Businesses can begin assessing their exposure by estimating the cost of an hour of downtime, identifying which equipment must remain opertional and understanding how quickly losses increase during an extended outage.
How did some businesses keep their doors open'
The Meadowdale outage highlighted the value of planning for power interruptions before they hapen. Businesses with suitable backup arrangements may be better positioned to keep critical equipment and essential operations running, depending on he design and capacity of their systems.
Bigfisch Projects develops energy solutions for commercial, industrial and agricultural clients across Southern Africa. By assessing a site's energy requirements, operational priorities and budget, the team can help businesses evaluate practical options for improving energy resilience.
What does Bigfisch do, end to end?
Bigfisch Projects supports the development and delivery of tilored energy solutions through the following stages:
- Load profiling and reporting to understand energy consumtopn, demand patterns and operational requirements.
- Project development and engineering to develop solutions suited to the site, its priorities and its budget.
- Funding support to explore options where appropriate and available.
- Procurement and project management to coordinate equipment procurement, product supply and project delivery.
- Operations and maintenance to provide ongoing solar plant operation and maintenane after commissioning and handover.
Depending on the site and its requiemrent, solutions may include rooftop or ground-mounted solar PV, solar carports, diesel genertor integration, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and integrated microgrids.
The right combination depends on the loads that need to be supported, the required backup duration, site conditions and budget.
Book a free load profile assessment.
How should a business prepare for an unplanned outage?
Preparing for an unplanned outage starts with understandign which parts of the business need power, how much electricity they require and how long they may needs to operate without the grid.
Design for the required backup duration
Specify the critical load and the period they may need to operate. Solar, battery storage and generator integrations can play different roles depending on the site's requirements and the expected conditions.
Understand your load profile
An energy assessment helps establish actual consumption and demand patterns supporting better system sizing and reducing the risk of investing in capacity that the business does not need.
Prioritise critical loads
Identify the equipment and processes that must remain operational. Supporting essential loads rather than the entire site may help manage system size, cost and runtime.
Integrate the wider operation
For some businesses, resilience depends on more than electricity. Refrigeration, water supply, communications and production equipment may also need to be considered in the energy plan.
Monitor and optimise performance
Monitoring, maintenance and periodic reviews help ensure the solution continues to match the site’s operational requirements as they change.
Bigfisch Projects designs and delivers energy solutions intended to improve on-site resilience. The right approach considered not only scheduled load shedding, but also the risks associated with infrastructure failures, damage, theft and other interruptions to electricity supply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is backup power important for businesses in South Africa?
Outages increasingly come from more than Askom’s load shedding schedule, damaged infrastructure, substation failures, veld fires and theft can all cause unplanned, unscheduled downtime with n o warning. Backup power built for a real emergency protects a business against all of these, not just scheduled stages.
What’s the difference between loadshedding and an unplanned power outage?
Load shedding follows a published schedule, so businesses can plan around it. An unplanned outage, caused by infrastructure damage or a substation fault, has no schedule and no warning, and can last far longer in Meadowdale’s case.
How much can a business lose during an extended power outage?
Costs vary widely, but they compound quickly: One Meadowdale business spent close to R60,000 on generator fuels alone, before accounting for lost revenue, stock damage, idle staff and missed orders.
What should a business’s backup power system be able to do?
It should be sized to a real load profile (not guessed), able to prioritise critical equipment, and built to run for as long as an outage lasts, hours, days, or in genuine crisis, weeks.
What services does Bigfisch provide for business backup power?
Load profiling and reporting, project development, and engineering, financing support, procurement and project management, and ongoing plant operation and maintenance after installation, covering rooftop, ground-mounted carport, hybrid and containerised BESS Solutions.