Eskom is asking consumers to delay starting up inverter and battery systems when electricity returns after load shedding to avoid a demand peak after every planned blackout.
Such peaks can destabilise the system and result in trips.
Inverter and battery systems, installed in many households to supplement the limited power supply from Eskom, assist consumers by keeping on limited lights and appliances during load shedding.
At these high levels of load shedding it is already becoming a challenge to get batteries charged during limited hours of electricity supply, but Eskom lists delaying the start-up of these systems as something consumers can do to protect the country’s electricity supply and reduce the stages of load shedding necessary to get through winter.
During Stage 6, which in recent weeks was a regular occurrence, consumers endure up to 10 hours a day without electricity.
And the picture does not look good for the coming winter months.
During its State of the System briefing on Thursday (18 May) Eskom made it clear that the coming winter is going to be extremely difficult, with Stage 7 or 8 or load shedding daily unless it succeeds in limiting unplanned outages of its generation fleet.
Three units at its youngest power station, the 4 800MW Kusile Power Station near eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, are out of service following a chimney collapse. They are only expected to be back online by year end, and even then will not be running at full capacity.
In addition, the steam generator replacement to extend the life of Koeberg Unit 1 has been delayed.
It is only expected to return to service in September.
The utility shared three different winter scenarios.
The most optimistic will be if it can contain unplanned outages to 15 000 MW, but even then, Eskom expects up to Stage 5 load shedding almost every day in May, July and August and up to Stage 3 for 18 days in June.
However, in recent weeks unplanned outages exceeded 19 000 MW on more than one occasion and on Sunday (21 May) was still 16 486 MW, according to Eskom.
Eskom notes that unplanned outages often vary by up to 4 000 MW.
The utility expects daily Stage 6 load shedding during May, June, July and August if breakdowns increase to 16 500 MW.
This means Eskom is approaching winter when electricity demand is at its highest with about 3 000 MW less generation capacity than last year. But if the loss of generation capacity increases to 18 000 MW, consumers are expected to experience up to Stage 7 load shedding
Eskom has not yet intensified load shedding beyond Stage 6.
