Eskom says cold weather conditions could lead to load shedding

With colder weather conditions expected across the country and the demand of electricity projected to increase, the power system is predicted to be tight for this week.

South Africans are urged to use electricity efficiently, having the collective potential of reducing demand by up to 500 MW and saving the equivalent of 1 unit at a power station.

Last week, Eskom indicated that it now has a better understanding of root causes of breakdowns following work done by its technical review team and has a reliable maintenance plan for its plant, with maintenance being prioritised over this period.

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Phakamani Hadebe, the Group Chief Executive of Eskom said in  a statement that an  extensive winter plan was done as well as a review of the power system.

“While the plan gives us confidence that we may go through winter with no or limited load shedding, we are mindful of the potential of risks on a very tight power system which may result in shifts on the power system and which could result in load shedding.

We have mapped out scenarios that show that we will implement load shedding in cases where unplanned breakdowns increase to more than 9 500 MW, delays in returning units from planned maintenance or in cases of unanticipated disruptive events.”

He also stated that the first few days in April have given reassurance of the integrity of of the plan as Eskom managed to avoid power cuts on three days where it was predicted due to good performance of their plant. “We managed to go through periods of high demand in the evening peak without using a lot of diesel,” Hadebe said.

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