Photo by: Duane Daws
State-owned power utility Eskom on Wednesday warned of possible rotational load shedding as “technical problems” further strained an already tight national grid.
The utility, which had called on industrial customers, as well as consumers, to cut back 10% of their electricity consumption, expected the constraints to last throughout the week.
This was attributed to undisclosed technical problems experienced at some of the utility’s power stations and the loss of additional generating units.
Spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said it was a combination of technical issues at the group's coal-fired power stations, to which no common thread could be placed.
He pointed out that the ageing power stations were generally less reliable than the utility would like.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure the continued supply of electricity and our technical teams are hard at work to bring back units at our generating plants,” CEO Tshediso Matona said in a power alert statement.
Etzinger said supply would remain tight until the weekend, when demand eased and some of the technical issues were expected to be resolved.
However, he warned that the system would remain fragile throughout November.
This comes as the group transitioned into its “typical summer load profile”, which usually induced an increase in maintenance, and any additional problems experienced on the plant increased the risk of load shedding.
"This risk will continue into November,” Eskom noted.