Heat wave not affecting power supply, says Eskom

8th October 2015

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

Gauteng's current heat wave has not affected power consumption during the critical peak period, Eskom said in a statement on Thursday.

Although the simmering heat heightens electricity demand during the day because of the increased use of air conditioners, there is a reprieve after sunset. "The evening peaks are not affected that much as it cools down as soon as the sun sets," Eskom said.

Summer is traditionally a maintenance season for Eskom, with a number of generating units taken out for planned maintenance. This, together with increased usage because of hot summer days, puts strain on the electricity grid in summer.

The utility on Thursday refused to give more information on its summer maintenance plans, saying these will be revealed during a quarterly state of the system briefing towards the end of the month.

Commenting on the effect of the current strike in the coal sector, Eskom reiterated that it has enough coal stockpiles at its power stations. "We have coal stockpiles of over 30 days at most of our power stations and we thus do not anticipate that the strike will have an impact on our ability to generate electricity at this stage," Eskom said.

On Wednesday, Eskom celebrated achieving another load shedding free day as it marked 60 days of only two hours and 20 minutes of load shedding.

News24.com

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION