Cape Town. 201114. Power utility Eskom has confirmed that stage one of load shedding has started. Stage one allows for up to 1000 MW of the national load to be shed. This is the third time the utility has implemented load shedding this year. Eskom earlier said it was looking into reports of another weakness found at one of its coal silos at the Majuba Power Station.The utility has been experiencing problems since the collapse of a silo at the power station in Mpumalanga earlier this month. Picture Leon Lestrade. Story Wendyl Martin Cape Town. 201114. Power utility Eskom has confirmed that stage one of load shedding has started. Stage one allows for up to 1000 MW of the national load to be shed. This is the third time the utility has implemented load shedding this year. Eskom earlier said it was looking into reports of another weakness found at one of its coal silos at the Majuba Power Station.The utility has been experiencing problems since the collapse of a silo at the power station in Mpumalanga earlier this month. Picture Leon Lestrade. Story Wendyl Martin
Cape Town - City of Cape Town officials have taken up cudgels on behalf of embattled residents who say they’re bearing the brunt of peak-time load shedding, offering Eskom suggestions of a fairer schedule during an emergency meeting on Friday.
This follows continuing complaints that people in some suburbs are suffering more than others. At the moment, over weekends, area nine – which includes Langa, Epping and parts of Pinelands – has been without power between 6pm and 8.30pm during stage 1 load shedding, a time when households will be using appliances for lighting, entertainment and cooking.
Area 11, meanwhile, which includes Constantia, Bergvliet and Plumstead, loses power between 6 and 8.30am on Saturday and Sunday.
Like other parts of the country, Cape Town suburbs have been plunged into darkness on a predetermined schedule over most weekends since early last month.
The load shedding started following the collapse of a coal silo at Majuba power station in Mpumalanga and technical problems at others.
“The city, with Eskom, is exploring more suitable load-shedding schedules that will have a lower overall impact on our residents and our economy,” said deputy mayor Ian Neilson after on Friday’s meeting with regional Eskom leadership.
Speaking to Weekend Argus after the meeting, which he described as “very constructive and open”, Neilson said power disruptions were unfair when one “cluster” of suburbs was affected on two consecutive days at peak times.
“The debate was around issues of certainty and fairness,” said Neilson, who added that the city handed over and discussed proposed schedule changes at the meeting.
Neilson said that Eskom’s regional leadership told him they would study the proposals.
Neilson said the city’s proposal would make the load shedding times more “variable”, so that no one area was without power at particularly inconvenient times on consecutive days.
Eskom has scheduled load shedding over weekends, in part, to build up reserves of water and diesel for its peak demand power stations.
It previously told Weekend Argus that power disruptions over weekends would also lessen the impact on industry.
The peak demand stations, such as Ankerlig Power Station near Atlantis, are designed to provide top-up power for peak periods in the mornings and in the evenings when demand is high.
But due to high demand, the power utility has been using up its diesel and water reserves faster than they can be replaced during the week.
The meeting also discussed how much notification Capetonians had of outages.
“We have also shared with Eskom our dissatisfaction over the poor notification periods that the city receives, and the poor communication that Eskom has with the public when load shedding changes are made,” Neilson said.
The city discussed its idea to change the Ankerlig power station to run on gas instead of the diesel it uses at present.
Neilson said while this wouldn’t happen soon – a reliable gas supply was needed – the conversion could help the province expand its energy sources.
*For the latest information on load shedding call the City of Cape Town on 0860 103 089 or Eskom on 0860 037 566.
Weekend Argus