Statement on the Eskom Power Emergency
06/03/2014
Two weeks ago, the Department of Public Enterprises and Eskom briefed the South African public about the state of the country's Power System, which I reiterated that we are managing a delicate electricity system.
In light of the above, Eskom today declared a power emergency at 06:00 am; where they indicated that rotational load shedding will be implemented, due to the constraint state of the power system. Reasons for the declaration are:
- Over the last week, Eskom has depleted dry coal stockpiles at some power stations due to the rainy weather conditions. This has contributed to severe system constraints due to lower power output as a result of wet and poor quality coal;
- Last night Eskom lost three units at Kendal Power Station (in Mpumalanga), as well as having to reduce output at other power stations, Duvha in particular which has its conveyor belts being reconstructed following a fire in December 2013.
- In addition, dam levels are low at Drakensberg and Palmiet Pumped Storage power stations. These plants act as reserves during peak plants and due to the constraints they were used beyond the peak times hence the low reserves at the dams.This was exacerbated by the loss of imports via Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), the Zimbabwean electricity utility.
After all reserves were used and after a reduction by key industrial customers at 08:00, an additional reduction in demand of about 3000MW was needed to balance the electricity system.
To make provision for the shortfall of 3000MW Eskom¡'s emergency protocol requires that all customers (Eskom and municipality customers) reduce their demand by 20% through rotational load shedding.