South Africa’s power provider Eskom says it is extending its load shedding regime from four stages. That is meant to allow up to 4,000 megawatts (MW) of demand to be shed to eight stages.
Eskom officials say the latest shedding regime would represent more than 26% of the electricity demand of 30,009 MW forecast for this week.
The new load shedding regime came to light on Sunday when Eskom announced stage 1 load shedding countrywide at around noon.
Eskom On Monday warned that the power system will remain constrained for the rest of the week.
It is now appealing to residents and businesses to use electricity sparingly as it battles to bring a coal supply shortage under control.
Spokesperson for Eskom, Dikatso Mothae says “We just ask that our customers use electricity sparingly throughout the day but more especially over the evening peak from about 5pm until 9pm in the evening. And that will also help us to limit the need to load shed.”
This is the first time since 2016 that load-shedding has been necessary, with the exception of a few days during which plants were sabotaged in industrial action earlier in 2018.
Load-shedding takes place when the reserve capacity is so diminished that the system is at risk of tripping.
Source: Africafeeds.com
