Eskom has announced that they will be implementing stage 1 load shedding from 10am to 10pm on Wednesday 28 January to manage dam levels at its pumped storage schemes.
Eskom has announced that they will be implementing stage 1 load shedding from 10am to 10pm on Wednesday 28 January to manage dam levels at its pumped storage schemes.
"Implementing lower stages of load shedding throughout the week helps us prevent severe load shedding later in the week," Eskom said in a new status update released minutes ago.
"At our pumped storage schemes (which use water to generate electricity), our dam levels are also low because we were not able to pump the water back to full capacity over the past weekend," the update read. "This is mainly because they were in use over the weekend to meet demand.
"Ordinarily, the weekends are used to pump our dam levels to maximum capacity in preparation for the forecasted increased demand in electricity during the week."
Eskom announced late on Tuesday night 27 January that the load-shedding begun on Monday 26 January had stopped.
The system would continue to be under severe pressure for the rest of the week, and the risk of load shedding would be medium to high.
As Eskom rolled out stage 2 loadshedding on Monday a panel failed at the Summit substation in Robinson Street in Sunnyside, leaving large parts of Grahamstown without power on the night of Monday 26 January.
Makana municipal spokesperson Yoliswa Ramokolo told Grocott's Mail today that affected areas included the Rhodes University Campus, Oatlands and Sunnyside.
Residents in Westhill also reported outages.
"We managed to fix the damage and the power was back around 10.30pm," Ramokolo said.
Eskom's status report on Monday 27 January, "Eskom had to go into stage 1 load shedding as of 11h00 today as a result of system constraints and unforeseen technical problems at its power stations. Load shedding moved from stage 1 to stage 2 at 15h00 and will continue until 22h00 this evening."
Residents may have to brace themselves for more blackouts as Eskom warned of an overloaded system.
In a statement to Grocott's Mail on Monday the power utility warned, "The power system remains constrained and will remain so for the rest of this summer. Any extra load or faults in the system may necessitate the need to go into load shedding".
Today, the power utility said, “We moved to stage 2 in order to manage our reserves at our pumped storage schemes and gas turbines so that we can better manage the rest of the week."
"At our pumped storage schemes (which use water to generate electricity), the dam levels are low because we were not able to pump the water back to full capacity over the weekend," Acting Chief Executive Dan Marokane said. "This is a result of us having to use our pumped storage schemes over the weekend to meet demand.
"Ordinarily, the weekends are used to pump our dam levels to maximum capacity in preparation for the forecasted increased demand in electricity during the week."
Marokane said the power grid was extremely constrained and would remain so for the rest of the summer.
"Eskom calls on consumers to switch off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day to reduce electricity demand," Marokane said.
"We also request workers to switch off the lights, with the exception of security lighting when they leave office buildings this evening and to ensure that air-conditioners are switched off over night."
If Grahamstown is affected this is the Stage 1 load-shedding schedule:
Wed, 28 Jan 12:00 – 14:30
Fri, 30 Jan 18:00 – 20:30
Mon, 02 Feb 06:00 – 08:30
Wed, 04 Feb 12:00 – 14:30
Fri, 06 Feb 18:00 – 20:30
Mon, 09 Feb 06:00 – 08:30
Wed, 11 Feb 12:00 – 14:30
loadshedding.eskom.co.za
*Story updated on Wednesday 28 January at 9.40am
