Load shedding in Mbombela not very likely

MBOMBELA – Residents of some parts of the city were taken back in time – to 2008 to be precise – when they woke up without power on Sunday morning.

Steiltes was one of the suburbs where load-shedding was being implemented after Majuba Power Station near Volksrust in Mpumalanga suffered a major setback on Saturday. A crack developed in one of its coal storage silos and it collapsed soon after, hampering the generation of power tremendously.

Residents were unable to blow-dry their hair and had to face the day without being able to boil the kettle for a cup of coffee. The sermon at NG Kerk Suid in Ehmke Street took place with lit candles being placed in the front of the church. Music for the praise and worship part of the service was made with a piano instead of the usual organ or electric guitar. Power was restored again at about 10:30.

Yesterday morning several motorists were late for work as they were met by several non-functioning traffic lights in the CBD and Vintonia industrial area. It reminded people of the frustration experienced in 2008 which was marked by days and weeks of frustration because of load-shedding when Eskom couldn’t meet national demand.

However, the power outage experienced yesterday morning was actually because of a vervet monkey which caused havoc at the Delta Substation. “Mbombela experienced sporadic power dips on Monday morning due to a monkey that went into the yard and caused a short circuit on one of the transformers at the Delta Substation. Electricity was restored around 09:00 after the animal was euthanised,” said Mr Joseph Ngala, Mbombela Local Municipality spokesman.

Although Eskom is under increasing pressure to meet the country’s electricity demand without the station at Amajuba able to function at maximum capacity, Ngala said the possibility of load-shedding being implemented in Mbombela for the rest of the week, remained low.

“The current situation on the Eskom side as at 10:00 this morning (Monday) is that we are still on alert, but load-shedding was stopped. The probability of load-shedding and load curtailment for the rest of the week is low. We still appeal to all consumers to switch off all non-essential equipment,” Ngala added.

“Power cutting is informed by the pressure on the national grid (Eskom). As and when Eskom experiences pressure on the grid, it will inform consumers (especially large consumers) to apply load-shedding. The severity or extent to which the schedule will be implemented depends on what stage (how critical) the pressure is – Stage 1 being low and Stage 3 being high or severe. During Stage 1 consumers would be expected to identify areas, in consultation with Eskom and schedule them on a rotational basis until the pressure is manageable,” he further explained.

Majuba does generate Mbombela’s power. Eskom held a press conference on Sunday during which the disaster at Majuba was outlined. At about 12:30 on Saturday, operating staff noticed a visible crack on silo 20 at the plant. Station output was immediately reduced from 3 600MW to 1 800. The silo collapsed at 13:12.

Arrangements were then made for permits to transport mobile coal feeders to the site to enable manual feed of coal to five of the six units. Eskom indicated that it would be able to generate 31 500MW for Monday, provided it didn’t experience any further breakdowns. There would be a risk of load-shedding in particular from 18:00 to 20:00.

With the extensive usage of water resources, it would mean that Eskom could experience water constraints by Wednesday. If capacity was still at the same level, Eskom would need to consider Stage 1 load-shedding as early as Wednesday evening or the whole of Thursday.

The schedule for proposed load-shedding is available at www.eskom.co.za