Load-shedding woes for SA
JOBURG - Despite assurances that it would be able to keep the country’s lights on this winter, Eskom enforced scheduled load shedding on 11 June.
Rolling blackouts hit parts of the country between 6pm and 7pm on 11 June and the power utility warned that further load shedding remained a possibility. Some of the areas affected on 11 June were those that were listed within that time on the municipal load-shedding schedules.
According to Sapa, Eskom’s spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said that the deliberate countrywide power cuts were necessary to protect the national power system from complete shutdown after losing some of the utility’s generation capacity due to breakdowns.
In a statement on 11 June, Eskom said that two units at its Duvha and Kendal power stations had tripped, and a portion of the capacity normally imported from Cahora Bassa had become unavailable.
“As a result, a reduction in electricity demand was required between 6pm and 8pm in order to balance the electricity system, which was implemented according Eskom’s load-shedding schedule,” Eskom said in a statement.
However, hours before, the power utility warned that the national power system was severely constrained and urged customers to reduce their electricity consumption.
The utility expected the system remain tight on 12 June between 5pm and 9pm, and again appealed to all consumers to use electricity sparingly during this period.
“Eskom will utilise all necessary emergency resources at its disposal, but should the demand not decrease, load shedding will be implemented as a last resort to protect the national grid,” the utility said.
Demand typically dipped on Fridays and over weekends, and according the utility’s power system bulletin released on 9 June, the peak demand forecast for Monday to Thursday averaged at just over 34 000 megawatts, but decreased to between 31 000 and 32 300 megawatts on Friday and over the weekend.
However, Eskom warned that the system would continue to be vulnerable until the new Medupi plant was synchronised with the power system, which is scheduled for later this year.
Customers can find the load-shedding schedules on Eskom’s website.
Municipal customers were urged to contact their local authorities for their respective load-shedding schedules.
