Ailing South African power and energy utility Eskom, has today provided an update on the current situation with regards to the power grid. It said the capacity is currently in the danger zone. However, they do not plan on instituting any load shedding today. Unplanned outages are still above 10 000MW they say, 20% above it’s nominal capacity.
Everytime these unplanned breakdown’s occur, Eskom needs to utilize emergency resources of diesel and pumped water storage schemes at a higher rate. This is implemented when unplanned breakdowns rise above 9500MW. This increases the risk over rotational power-cuts to lessen the burden on the grid. In the press release, it was mentioned that they have sufficient diesel to run it;s open cycle gas turbines and water for its pumped storage schemes to supplement the shortage of capacity.
In the statement, they had the following to say :
“The probability of load shedding remains, but will only be implemented if absolutely necessary”
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So keep your eyes out on any news when it comes to load-shedding, in the next few weeks. But we will definitely be keeping an our out on this for and keep you updated.
