CT faces more blackouts
2006-05-22 08:25
Johannesburg - A combination of icy temperatures and reduced capacity could plunge parts of Cape Town into darkness on Monday night, the Cape Times reported.
Consumers would have to conserve 150MW to avoid a blackout.
"If they don't, there will be load-shedding," said the city's director of electricity services, Leslie Rencontre.
"We have hit that time of the year when the demand for energy exceeds the supply. Each week the load demand increases as we move deeper into winter."
Eskom has estimated that there will be a shortage of at least 150MW from 18:00 to 20:00, after Koeberg's Unit 2 generator is switched off on Monday for refuelling and safety upgrades.
Lengthy process to upgrade Unit 2
"Due to growth in the Cape over the past three years, we really need both units up and running to provide sufficient electricity throughout the day," said Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager for investment strategy.
"With one down, we really cannot appeal enough for people to be conservative with their use of electricity until the end of July."
Koeberg's Unit 1 nuclear generator, which was repaired and fully restored last week, will be forced to bear the burden of powering the city while the lengthy process of upgrading Unit 2 takes place.
"It's working fine but we need to continue taking all possible precautions - people cannot get complacent," Etzinger said.
"While it may seem that we have fixed the problem (and that we have) not had a blackout in a couple of months, we are still going to be very tight until the end of July."
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- SAPA