Eskom has confirmed that Stage 7 loadshedding was implemented twice during peak demand periods this week.
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This comes amid the announcement that the power utility’s chief executive, Andre de Ruyters, has resigned with immediate effect on Wednesday evening.
According to MyBroadband, the power utility, led by general manager Isabel Fick, determines the level of load shedding and instructs customers to decrease demand.
It is further reported that Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha has consistently posted Eskom’s evening peak statistics and his posts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights indicated that the system operator had instituted load shedding of over 7 000 megawatts (MW).
According to system operator’s own definitions, that is Stage 8 loadshedding with each stage representing an additional 1 000MW of demand removed from the grid.
Therefore, Stage 8 is when 7 000MW to 8 000MW of demand is removed from the grid.
The evening peak at 7.15pm on Tuesday saw 7045MW shed and 7092MW on Wednesday.
Speaking to the publication, Mantshanstha said that the system operator’s job was to protect the stability and integrity of the power system.
“As you know, I publish the statistics after the evening peak to give the actual data at a particular point in the evening, the highest demand period,” he said.
“However, the system is managed continuously, in real-time, to ensure there’s sufficient supply to meet demand all the time and this is being done by reducing the demand to match available supply at all times, while maintaining a buffer reserve.”
He added that the demand could exceed the previously announced load shedding estimate at any time.
“As you will see in the figures, it is accurate to say at that particular time last night, load shedding was Stage 7.”
“Eskom is currently load shedding at Stage 6, as previously announced,” he said.
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Picture: Murray Swart