Cape Town activates disaster centre amid fears of stage 8 load shedding
The City of Cape Town says that it has activated its Disaster Management Centre, which will remain on alert until the threat of stage 8 load shedding subsides.
In an address to the city’s council on Thursday (8 December), Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis warned that the threat of higher stages of load shedding has risen following Eskom’s move to stage 6 on Wednesday, while the country waits for the power utility to shut down unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station for maintenance.
Eskom delayed the shutdown – initially expected to take place on Wednesday night – as it attempts to stabilise the grid.
“While every effort and every preparation that can be made will be made to protect essential services in the event of an escalation beyond stage 6, make no mistake – if this were to happen, it would be a time of profound and unprecedented social and economic crisis for South Africa,” Hill-Lewis said.
The Cape Town mayor said that the city had pledged in 2021 to do something about the effects of load shedding on residents and businesses, which resulted in a tender for the procurement of 300MW of privately produced power.
“We have enabled businesses who produce excess energy to sell all of it back to the City. We have announced the construction of our own solar plant in Atlantis, and we have commenced our wheeling pilot project with several large commercial participants,” he said.
In 2022, the city’s energy-saving initiatives helped stave off 1,100 hours of load-shedding, he said.
“As it is, there can be no prospect of national development – and progress out of poverty – so long as this crisis of rolling blackouts persists. Every time this happens, our resolve is only strengthened further that Cape Town will show South Africa how the future can be different.
“We will exploit any and every opportunity to accelerate our efforts to reduce our reliance on Eskom and the national state as fast we can,” he said.
Impact on infrastructure
The City of Cape Town warned that many contingencies put in place to mitigate the impact of load shedding were not designed to handle outages beyond stage 4.
Nearly 75% of signalised intersections on the City of Cape Town’s road network are equipped with Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) systems, the city said – unfortunately, the UPS batteries do not have sufficient time to recharge when Eskom implements Stage 4 load-shedding or above, as is currently the case.
“A total of 1,228 of the City’s 1,652 traffic signals are equipped with UPSes that are charged from mains power and then power the signal when load-shedding is implemented.
“This means nearly 75% of signalised intersections across the whole city, regardless of whether it is within a City or Eskom supply area, can maintain operations during load-shedding up to Stage 3. In so doing, we can ensure traffic flow, mitigate congestion, and importantly, prevent road users from unnecessary stops at crime hotspots,” it said.
“The City tries its utmost to limit the impact of load-shedding as far as it is within our control. Continuous interruptions in power supply shortens the lifespan of our infrastructure, and more importantly, it has a severe impact on residents’ commuting time.”
Joburg on high alert
The announcement from Cape Town follows similar moves by the City of Johannesburg, which said its teams were on high alert to address any problems arising from the current round of stage 6 load shedding, and if things escalate further.
The city’s power utility, City Power, said it would deploy all available personnel to take on issues around load shedding as instances of cable theft and wider outages are likely to increase during prolonged blackouts.
It recently launched the first phase of its Independent Power Producer Program, expected to progress in 2023, while it has also published its Requests for Proposal (RFP), signalling a bigger shift away from reliance on Eskom.
Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse said that it would secure reliable and affordable energy.
Load shedding outlook
Eskom’s last load shedding alert indicated that stage 6 will continue on Thursday and into Friday (9 December) before being downgraded to stage 5.
However, analysts have warned that stage 7 or even stage 8 load shedding could be on the cards, with Koeberg unit 1 expected to be pulled offline during the course of the day.
Koeberg unit 1 produces close to 1,000MW of energy – equivalent to one stage of load shedding. The unit will be offline for at least six months.
Meanwhile, the power utility is struggling to keep unplanned outages below 16,000MW and has run out of money to purchase more diesel to keep its open-cycle gas turbines – which help keep two stages of load shedding at bay – burning.
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