Load shedding necessary to avoid “total collapse” of power system: Eskom

DESPITE assurances that load shedding was a thing of the past after a winter season with few power outages, residents in many areas of the country were left without power on Wednesday morning when Eskom announced the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding.

The parastatal, Eskom tweeted the following advice for consumers earlier this morning.

What to do during loadshedding 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/bis4VndpfU

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) October 16, 2019

Eskom, in its announcement on Wednesday, 16 October said the reason for the most recent power cuts is due to the system being severely constrained this week.

“As a result of the loss of additional generation, delays in the return to service of units that are on planned maintenance and limited diesel supply, it has become necessary to implement Stage 2 rotational load shedding from 9am to 11pm in order to protect the power system from a total collapse.” 

Earlier this year, in March, people experienced the frustration countrywide of prolonged cuts as the entire country suffered Stage 4 load shedding.

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The power utility which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late said in its statement on Wednesday that it has warned at the beginning of September unplanned breakdowns needed to be contained below 9 500MW in order to avoid load shedding.

“The severe supply constraint being experienced has come about due to high level of unplanned breakdowns that have exceeded the 10 500MW limit.  The supply constraint is caused by, among others, five generating units that are unavailable due to boiler tube leaks,” said the statement issued by Eskom Media Desk.

A breakdown of a coal conveyor belt supplying Medupi Power station was also reported on Saturday, 12 October, which Eskom said resulted in limited generating capacities, almost halving the output of the station.

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“We unreservedly apologise to South Africans for the negative impact this may have on them and want to assure the nation that we continue to work tirelessly to ensure the security of energy supply,” said Eskom.

However, Eskom wasn’t shy to ask people to cut back on the use of various appliances, despite many of those consumers currently being without electricity despite their zone on the various load shedding apps not showing them due for any power cuts.

#PowerAlert 1 : Stage 2 loadshedding from 9:00 today pic.twitter.com/zDcjgjAGh9

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) October 16, 2019

Meanwhile, Queensburgh’s Ward 65 representative in council, Samantha Windvogel issued the following advice to residents in her ward which would be quite applicable to residents all over the city.

“Please have a plan “B” as a matter of urgency. This may or may not happen but be guarded. Eskom has issued a load shedding alert as stated below.  Eskom Power System Alert Warning: 16 October 2019 09h00. The power system is severely constrained. Should we experience further technical problems and the loss of an additional 600 MW, a load reduction is likely to be required.”

The Highway Mail will be keeping an eye open for any updated information from the city which for now still has only the old load shedding maps from earlier in the year live on its website from which people can download maps to help them identify which zone they are located in to use the various apps available for smartphones offering load shedding warnings.

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