Load shedding, or load reduction, is something that all South Africans are very familiar with, as it had recently become part of our daily lives.
Load shedding is implemented as a precautionary measure to prevent the demand for power exceeding what is actually able to be supplied. When this happens it causes an imbalance in the system which could leave the entire country without power (a complete blackout) and will possibly take up to 2 weeks to resolve, as each power station will have to be restarted one by one, and power restored to one area/suburb at a time. This will obviously have devastating effects on South African citizens and the economy, and needs to be avoided at all costs.
However, the frequency of load shedding events seems to have reduced drastically. Eskom claims that they have managed to get through 80 days without load shedding. We have explored some of the reasons why this might be the case:
- Supply of power – the level of electricity production is the main reason for load shedding occurring, as if sufficient power is not produced to meet the demand then the risk of damaging equipment and a complete blackout occurring becomes a lot more likely. Maintenance on existing power stations would affect the level of electricity produced, where there would be a big reduction in supplied power during maintenance periods as power stations are no longer producing power. However, after maintenance periods, the power stations should be slightly more efficient at producing power. New power stations, such as the Medupi Unit, are also increasing the capacity of the grid (around 800 Megawatts).
- REIPPPP – Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme is a programme developed to encourage the development of renewable energy, which to date has resulted in around 2000MW in the last 6 to 12 months. This additional capacity helps to reduce the strain on the grid and as a result reducing the need for load shedding
- Reduction in Consumption Demand – National consumption is affected seasonally due to the requirements of the users changing seasonally. In winter consumption and demand tends to be higher, as many homes are making use of electric heater, cooking food for longer periods of time, increased heating of water geysers and using lights for longer periods of time. As the weather is getting warmer, the requirement for the use of these items decreases, and as a result the consumption and demand decreases.
With the number of electricity users increasing and the potential for maintenance problems with electrical power stations and supply of fuel, load shedding remains on the cards, but luckily for now, it seems that Eskom has vowed to avoid load shedding at all costs until after December.