South Africa hits 7,000MW of load-shedding

3 years ago 1

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South Africa has reached an unprecedented level of rotational power cuts.

Eskom cut 7,045 megawatts from the grid, spokesman Sikonathi Mantshantsha said in a Tweet on Tuesday.

Each 1,000MW represents a stage of load-shedding, and Bloomberg reports that Mantshantsha has effectively confirmed that Eskom had moved to stage 7.

However, it should be noted that Eskom has not yet officially declared stage 7. It last announcement, on Sunday, stated that South Africa would run at stage 6 power cuts until further notice.

According to Mantshantsha, South Africa’s total demand at 19:25 on Tuesday evening was 30,480MW, while available generation capacity was 23,289MW.

Eskom reported that 1,262MW of renewable generation was available at peak, including 791MW wind, 390MW concentrated solar, and 81MW photovoltaic solar.

It also used five independent open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs), and 14 Eskom-owned OCGTs.

Ankerlig and Gourikwa — Eskom’s two major peaking OCGT power plants — have 14 generating units between them.

This suggests that Eskom was using all or nearly all of its emergency generating capacity last night.

Evening Peak Feedback 21/02/2023, 19:15
Total demand: 30 480MW
Loadshedding: 7 045MW
Eskom OCGT’s Utilised: 14
Eskom GT’s Utilised: 3
IPP OCGT’s: 5
Renewable Gen: 1 262MW (Wind 791MW, CSP 390MW, PV 81MW)@Eskom_SA Available Generation: 23 289MW@EskomSpokesper1

— SikonathiMantshantsh (@SikonathiM) February 21, 2023

MyBroadband asked Eskom if it went into stage 7 load-shedding last night. This article will be updated with the state-owned power utility’s comment if we receive it.

Reporting with Bloomberg.