South Africa has reached a point where we not only have loadshedding, but now the new entry “loadshedding at short notice” as well.
Over the last month Eskom has had to implement loadshedding with immediate effect on two occasions, giving South Africans little – if any – time to prepare. While loadshedding is done to protect the entire electrical grid from collapse and we understand it’s purpose, it’s still not great to arrive home to no power.
So, loadshedding at short notice, why would this happen this week?
According to Eskom, which suspended loadshedding at the weekend, the power system has recovered to a point where the demand for the day can be met, but evening demand poses a challenge.
“Eskom would like to caution the public that loadshedding might be required at short notice during the evening peaks should there be further breakdowns in currently available capacity. Eskom expects to return to service a generation unit each at Kusile and Kendal power stations before the evening peak,” the utility said in a power alert.
The power system will be severely constrained during evening peaks, with the possibility of loadshedding at short notice should there be any unit breakdowns pic.twitter.com/yE34NUM4zX
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) May 9, 2022
South Africans can assist Eskom by lower their energy consumption between the peak hours of 05:00 to 09:00 in the mornings and 16:00 to 22:00 in the mornings. We know this isn’t easy, especially with the colder nights and mornings, but saving electricity also helps you save money so only use what you need to.
How likely is loadshedding? If we were the betting sort, we’d put money on power cuts happening at some point this week. Eskom says that generation units at Matimba, Lethabo, and Hendrina are delayed in returning to service and three generation units at Tutuka power station have also experienced a delay in returning to service.
As of time of publication, 3 049MW of generation capacity is unavailable due to planned maintenance while 14 985MW of generation capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns. When Eskom suspended loadshedding on Saturday afternoon those figures sat at 3 872MW and 13 326MW respectively so unplanned breakdowns have ramped up.
We advise checking your loadshedding schedules for the week ahead and preparing for the inevitable.
