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Cape Town - Eskom announced that stage 2 load shedding would be implemented from 16:00 until 22:00 on Tuesday.
The announcement was made on Twitter at 13:20.
Energy expert Chris Yelland told Fin24 that with higher planned maintenance, unplanned maintenance, as well as the winter season starting to affect usage, South Africans should expect more load shedding, more frequently.
"Initially, Eskom would run its emergency reserves (OCGTs and pumped water storage systems) flat out during the working week starting on Monday," he said. "This was to minimise load shedding to the economy.
"However, this resulted in diesel running out for OCGTs and water in top dams running dry by Thursday and Friday, meaning these emergency reserves stopped and needed recharging (with diesel and by pumping water to top dams) over weekend.
"This meant load shedding started on Friday through to Sunday, so that on Monday the emergency reserves were recharged for the start of the next working week.
"The next phase was for some stage 1 load shedding during the working week in the peak periods from 17:00 to 22:00.
"Then this increased to Stage 1 load shedding in the working week in the day hours and Stage 2 load shedding during peak periods from 17:00 to 22:00 like during weekend.
"So now we have weekend load shedding and regular load shedding during the week, with stage 2 load shedding during peak periods.
"The causes:
1. Random unplanned breakdowns on an ongoing basis, some days worse than others, but random.
2. Increase in planned maintenance from 4500 MW to 6500 MW reduces supply by 2000 MW on ongoing basis.
3. Increase in demand during day and in the peak hours as winter sets in."
"The result is increased levels of load shedding that we see."
Planned vs unplanned maintenance:
Week of load shedding
On Monday Eskom implemented stage 1 load shedding just after 16:00 without warning, only notifying the media and public about half an hour later.
It moved to stage 2 load shedding within an hour, blaming a further shortage of generation capacity on additional units that had to be taken out of service for unplanned maintenance caused by technical faults.
The prognosis for the rest of the week doesn't look better as data from Eskom's system status bulletin shows its capacity to meet demand is expected to be short by almost 3 000 MW during the evenings this week.
This could result in load shedding moving from stages 1 to 3 during the evening from Tuesday to Thursday.
Peak evening demand this week is predicted to be far more than the capacity, with Tuesday (less 2 958 MW), Wednesday (less 2 576 MW) and Thursday (less 2 703 MW) showing signs of load shedding up to stage 3a, when 3 000 MW needs to be cut from the grid.
Stage 1 requires 1 000 MW less electricity usage, stage 2 (2 000 MW), stage 3a (3 000 MW) and 3b (4 000 MW).
Eskom said South Africans could assist in lessening the impact of load shedding by lowering their consumption.
"Every little bit of saving counts in minimising the severity of load shedding."
The state power utility reiterated calls on all customers to reduce the load on the electricity grid by switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day. This will reduce electricity demand.
"There is a golden rule that applies to saving electricity in the home: If you’re not using it, switch it off," Eskom explained.
Eskom said 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.
"By partnering with Eskom and changing the way we use energy everyday, you can make a difference to the electricity supply shortage in our country."
