No load shedding is expected in Grahamstown today 10 December. "However, things can change at any point," Eskom's media desk told Grocott's Mail this morning.
No load shedding is expected in Grahamstown today 10 December. "However, things can change at any point," Eskom's media desk told Grocott's Mail this morning.
"Tomorrow and Friday [Thursday 11 and Friday 12 December] the risk of load-shedding may increase."
At its most severe, Stage 3, in Grahamstown, this could mean outages at the following times: Thursday 11 December and Friday 12 December: 2am-4.30am; 6pm to 8.30pm; 10pm to 12.30am
The schedule may change hour by hour as Eskom responds to risks to energy production. These include rain, which wets the coal.
Eskom provides daily status updates and forecasts at: loadshedding.eskom.co.za
The site states which stage of loadshedding the nation is currently under.
n Stage one, rolling blackouts occur once every other day; Stage 2 sees them daily, and Stage 3 schedules at least two power outages daily.
This occurred in Grahamstown last weekend, when power was cut from 6-8.30am and then again from 12-2.30pm on Saturday.
In his Power System Status Update delivered at Megawatt Park, Sunningdale, on Monday 8 December, Eskom Chief Executive Tshediso Matona said the probability of load shedding remains medium until 15 December.
After that it will be low to medium until mid-January, should no additional problems arise.
This is because demand for electricity is expected to decrease as industry closes for the holidays.
"We will continue to do maintenance on our power stations. The system will remain constrained, but manageable," he said.
An average of 1 800MW is being fed into the national grid per day. The amount of energy the parastatal is able to produce is perilously close to insufficient for the nation's needs so that when problems occur, such as the collapse in November of a coal storage silo, blackouts and loadshedding occur.
Other potential problems include a breakdown in the feeders that take coal to the plant, the risk of rain wetting the coal and the safety of personnel due to the increased use of trucks.
"These risks are being actively managed," Matona said.
As always, Eskom urged South Africans to switch off lights and appliances that aren't being used and to not run non-essential equipment such as pool pumps during peak morning and evening hours.
