Eskom declares power emergency
Eskom declared a power ‘emergency’ on Sunday, November 23 and told large industrial users to cut their consumption by up to 10 per cent to ease pressure on the strained national grid.
According to Fin24, Eskom’s declaration is on top of two days of rolling blackouts, and was caused by generators producing 1 700 MW of power at two plants tripping out.
“Eskom has declared a power emergency with large industrial customers, requiring them to urgently reduce their electricity usage by 10 per cent from 15:00 to 20:00 today,” Fin24 quoted from a statement by Eskom.
“The declaration of a power emergency follows in addition to the implementation of stage two of load shedding earlier today [Sunday].”
Fin24 reported, “The power system experienced an increase in demand due to weather conditions and increased load losses as a result of multiple tripping of generating units at the Majuba and Matimba power stations.”
The report suggests that Eskom is now following the protocol in terms of its emergency procedures in order to secure the power system.
Due to loss of additional generating capacity, Eskom implemented stage two load shedding at noon on Sunday and this would continue until 22:00 on Sunday evening.
“The risk of load shedding for tomorrow [Monday] and Tuesday is medium to low. This is owing to steady progress made in building reserves to limit the risk of load shedding next week,” Eskom was quoted.
“Eskom calls on all electricity users to urgently switch off geysers, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances in order to allow the power system to recover.”
