SA ends third week with no load-shedding

The country ended a third week without load-shedding on Sunday.

“Eskom does not anticipate that there will be a need to load shed today as the power system is currently stable. However‚ the system remains vulnerable‚ meaning that any extra load or faults in the system may necessitate the need to implement load-shedding‚” the country’s national power utility said on Sunday.

“Eskom has met the country’s electricity demand while operating its generation fleet in a sustainable manner for three weeks‚ resulting in no load shedding for 21 consecutive days‚” it added.

However‚ it appealed to consumers to continue to reduce their electricity usage throughout the day as well as be aware of the need to save more power during the peak periods from 6am to 10am and from 5pm to 9pm.

“Commercial customers‚ particularly shopping centres and office blocks‚ can also make a big difference by switching off non-essential lights and not leaving office equipment such as photocopiers and computers in standby mode after hours.”

The news that Eskom has managed to keep the lights on for three weeks comes as President Jacob Zuma is scheduled to officially open Medupi Unit 6 in Lephalale‚ Limpopo Province‚ on Sunday.

The Medupi Power Station Unit 6 project is a green-fields coal-fired power plant comprising six units rated in total at 4‚800 MW installed capacity‚ Presidency spokesman‚ Bongani Majola said.

“It was first synchronised to the national grid on 2 March 2015‚ and has been able to alleviate pressure on the national electricity system‚ helping to either avoid load-shedding altogether or minimise its severity.

“The commercial operation of Unit 6 is also a critical milestone in efforts to build new generating capacity in the country‚” Majola added.  -RDM News Wire