Eskom flirts with failure
Eskom came close to operating at over full capacity this week, as cold weather and offline capacity put strain on the power network, Business Day reported.
According to Eskom’s system status bulletin, on Thursday (23 May 2013) Eskom registered demand for power at 33,742MW – 102MW short and alarmingly close to the available capacity of 33,874MW.
The peak in demand on power was due to cold weather as the country heads deeper into the winter season; however, Eskom’s offline capacity – planned maintenance (4,853MW) and unplanned outages (4,400MW) also accounted for the close call.
Electricity usage is currently stable.
Eskom power status
Eskom said in April that peak demand this winter was forecast at 36,800MW – but this was the average for an hour. The “peak within the peak” could go as high as 37,000MW to 38,000MW, Eskom said.
Speaking to Parliament, Eskom CEO Brian Dames said that, while Eskom was confident it could supply power “most of the day” in winter, the utility’s primary concern was early evenings, when there was a significant spike in demand.
“We believe that it’s more than do-able, with the support of customers, to reduce that demand over that peak period. We think that [a drop in demand] of more than 2000MW will be more than enough to ensure the security of supply within [that period].”
Dames said Eskom intended performing essential maintenance on nine power generation units between April and August, and encouraged the use of gas as an alternative to electricity.
Eskom has urged South Africans to save up to 10% of their electricity usage, especially during peak periods, from 5pm to 9pm.
The power company has guided the public to a brochure which provides tips on how to save electricity.
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Please reduce power usage: Eskom
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