load shedding

The City of Tshwane has updated its load shedding schedule. Image: Pixabay

South Africa sees a combined 120 days of load shedding in 2022

Throughout 2022, a combined 120 days of load shedding has been experienced in South Africa, a whopping 72 days more than last year.

load shedding

The City of Tshwane has updated its load shedding schedule. Image: Pixabay

Load shedding has South Africans adopting Disturbed’s The Sound of Silence as a theme song and singing the words “hello darkness my old friend” at the top of our lungs, but one can’t help but wonder how much time we have spent in the dark this year.

A tweet sent out by the load shedding app, EskomSePush, on 21 November 2022, paints a morbid picture of rotational power cuts in the country.

2 881 hours of load shedding for 2022 – and we aren’t even done yet

South Africa experienced a combined 2 881 hours of power cuts in 2022. This is equivalent to a whopping 120 days, or around four months’ worth of rotational power cuts.

As horrific as that sounds, it gets worse when we look at the statistics of previous years. In 2021, South Africans experienced 1 153 hours (48 days) of load shedding.

This means that as a country, we have endured more than double the amount of power cuts compared to last year.

EskomSePush recently published shocking load shedding statistics. Image: EskomSePush Twitter page.

Prolonged load shedding over the next few months

Eskom announced on 15 November 2022 that South Africans can anticipate an increased risk of power cuts over the next six to 12 months.

The power utility will embark on major investment projects and repairs that carry risk and increases the chances of load shedding.

These risk factors will remove more than 2 300MW of generating capacity from the system.

The high levels of unplanned outages are of serious concern.

In order to limit load shedding, Eskom relied on the extensive use of open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs)

“Due to the vulnerability and unpredictability of the power system, coupled with the major capital projects, maintenance, and major repairs to be executed starting during the next few months, the risk of continued load shedding remains quite high,” said Eskom chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer.

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Eskom’s coal rain readiness plans offer a small glimmer of light in the dark

Eskom announced that coal stock levels are healthy at an average of 35 days, excluding Medupi. Including Medupi, this doubles the coal stock-days to just under 70.

The power utility’s rain readiness plans have proven to be resilient and have withstood the unusually high summer rainfall season last year.

Plans are in place for the current rainy season, to assist in mitigating the risk of increasing stages of load shedding.

“All coal-fired power stations plans have been stress-tested to ensure they are again able to withstand the high rainfall period,” said acting managing director for generation, Thomas Conradie.

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