South Africa on Saturday achieved a 629 MW energy saving as consumers switched off their power for 60 minutes during the yearly Earth Hour initiative.
This year’s Earth Hour realised higher electricity savings than the 402 MW achieved last year, State-owned power utility Eskom reported over the weekend.
This comes as the beleaguered utility struggled to meet rising energy demand amid a narrowing supply/demand margin.
“Plant performance continues to be volatile and the power system is very tight,” the entity previously said in its state of power report.
Supply was expected to remain tight until units of South Africa's 4 764 MW Medupi and 4 800 MW Kusile coal-fired power plants come online between late 2013 and 2018.
A seven-week strike that ended earlier this month threatened the completion timeline at Medupi, with previous indications emerging that, while Eskom continued to target its December deadline, it was likely that the first unit would be commissioned only in February.
A three-week strike – which ended over the weekend – at several of JSE-listed Exxaro’s coal operations that supply Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga and Limpopo further intensified fears of power disruptions.
During the Earth Hour campaign, Eskom switched off non-essential lighting at all its offices around the country, barring that of strategic facilities for security reasons, the utility commented.
“… this year’s figure shows that more and more South Africans are seeing the value of switching off what they are not using,” Eskom commented.
The campaign encouraged individuals and businesses to lead “energy-smart lifestyles, save power, save the planet and save their pockets.”