/ 14 January 2014

Electricity ‘extremely tight’ for next three days, warns Eskom

Electricity 'extremely Tight' For Next Three Days, Warns Eskom
It is unlikely that insurance will cover the damage or that the government will bail out companies

Power utility Eskom says the system will be extremely tight over the next three days as it anticipates a significant increase in electricity demand as industry goes back to work and schools reopen.

Eskom appealed for sustained savings throughout the day to reduce demand on the electricity grid. It called on all consumers to reduce their electricity usage as it continued with planned maintenance on the generating units.

In its regular update on the state of the power system‚ Eskom said the capacity available to meet Tuesday evening’s peak demand was 31 200MW (including open-cycle gas turbines)‚ while demand was forecast at 30 589MW.

Current planned maintenance stood at 5 000MW and unplanned outages were 6 200MW.

Peak demand for the rest of this week was forecast at 30 907MW on Tuesday‚ 30 887MW on Wednesday‚ 30 873MW on Thursday‚ 30 622MW on Friday‚ 28 963MW on Saturday and 28 386MW on Sunday.

Eskom said it continued to make progress with its programme of planned maintenance‚ but the system remained tight. – I-Net Bridge