Hailstorms hit Eskom demand
The sudden cold snap that resulted in hailstorms in Gauteng on Thursday lifted peak demand by 6.1% to 33‚910 Megawatts (MW) on September 6 from 31‚967MW on September 3 Eskom said in its 69th system status bulletin.
In its 68th bulletin‚ Eskom forecast peak demand would only be 32‚432MW on September 6.
The 1‚478MW forecast error was more than the 1‚090MW margin between the available capacity of 35‚000MW and the estimated peak demand on September 6 and shows just how extremely tight the balance is between electricity supply and demand until the new Medupi power station‚ which has already been hit by industrial action and construction delays‚ comes online some time towards the end of next year.
Eskom said that calm had been restored at the Medupi Power Station Project site‚ following protest action by a group of workers on September 6.
The protest was contained rapidly but all workers on site were sent home as a precautionary measure‚ to ensure the safety of people and equipment.
The protest action by the workers‚ who are employed by the Medupi Power Station Civils Joint Venture (MPSJV)‚ resulted in some damage to vehicles and equipment‚ but there were no injuries.
Eskom is engaging with contractors and stakeholders to resolve the situation.
Medupi‚ the 4‚764 MW power station which Eskom is building at Lephalale in Limpopo province‚ is on track to start generating power for the national grid next year. There are currently about 17‚000 workers on site at Medupi.
Unplanned outages jumped to this year’s peak of 6‚429 Megawatts (MW) on September 3 from 4‚973MW on August 30‚ and then eased to 5‚900MW on September 6.
Planned maintenance on September 6 eased to 1‚445MW from 1‚635MW on September 3 and 2‚603MW on August 30 and the lowest level this year of 845MW on July 30.
The peak planned maintenance so far this year was 7‚473MW on April 5‚ while the peak unplanned outages were 6‚429MW on September 3.
Available capacity on May 21 was 34‚884MW‚ when peak demand was 34‚390MW. This meant that spare capacity on May 21 was only 454MW or less than one 600MW modern generator at a coal fired power station. This was a margin of 1.3%. The international norm is 15% as utilities need to provide for both planned maintenance and unplanned outages. On January 9 peak demand of 30‚282MW was met by available capacity of 30‚742MW or a margin of 1.5%.
Peak evening demand is expected to ease next week this week from 33‚910MW on September 6 to 32‚454MW on Monday‚ 32‚374MW on Tuesday and 32‚376MW on Wednesday as SA gradually warms up from its recent cold snap.
On August 7 Gauteng experienced its first widespread snowfalls since September 1981.
The highest actual peak demand of 35‚527MW took place on August 7.
The peak demand so far this year was supposed to be 36‚258MW on July 16 according to the 54th system status bulletin. Demand side management‚ which involves asking large industrial users to temporarily stop some industrial processes‚ meant that the actual peak demand was only 35‚443MW or a saving of 815MW on July 16.
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