Blackout unlikely but GP is still unprepared, says DA
The province still has no disaster management plan should a total energy blackout occur.
Andrew Ngozo
Gauteng premier David Makhura does not have a plan for dealing with the looming energy crisis in the province, says the DA.
This after Eskom spoke of a major system constraint, Eskom’s terminology for an energy blackout, in August 2013, said Ashor Sarupen the DA Gauteng spokesperson for finance.
He said Gauteng [still] had no disaster management plan in the case of a national energy blackout.
“[Instead] the premier says he was pleased with Eskom’s progress since 2008 and completely ignores that it has plunged [the country] into a crisis of load shedding,” he said, adding that load shedding had become a “fact of life for South Africans”.
Sarupen said the only plan that existed, still to be budgeted for, was to put solar panels on government building rooftops.
“This still will not meet the energy needs of Gauteng,” said Sarupen.
He said the premier claimed that clinics had generators, yet more than 200 did not.
“Even if these existed, they would only be able to provide power for a few hours, not for the two weeks needed to restore power in the case of a blackout.
“The Gauteng province simply has no recovery plan,” he said.
Power utility Eskom’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said it was unlikely there would be a total national energy blackout.
“We have always insisted that the power system will remain constrained for at least the next two years.
“Most importantly, over the past seven weeks, we have had only 2 hours and 20 minutes of stage 1 load shedding.
“This only affected a mere 4% of the population,” he said.
Phasiwe said Eskom regularly conducted simulation exercises and tests to ensure it was prepared to respond to extreme events.
In the past such exercises have addressed issues such as preparedness for emergency demand reduction, preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, local elections and the African Cup of Nations.
Phasiwe said the national power system had multiple layers of manual and automatic protection in place to prevent a national blackout.
“Load shedding is one of the mechanisms. The eventuality of a blackout is [therefore] highly unlikely,” he said.
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