The Lowdown of Load Shedding
This month load shedding, ageing infrastructure, cable theft and a cyclone are making for the perfect electrical storm. We are being battered from four different angles at the moment in Johannesburg.
Load shedding is the most predictable power outage in South Africa at the moment. Using useful apps such as “eskomsepush” from Google’s playstore and being flexible, we are able to plan our lives around the load shedding schedules which last for 41/2 hours. Our gate and garage motor’s battery backups can cope with this duration of power outage.
Unfortunately our load shedding periods are being extended due to derelict infrastructure of our electricity supply. When a phase of load shedding is over, the grid experiences a massive power surge when switched back on. The aged cables are just not able to sustain the surge.
“[It’s] like shaking a baby uncontrollably. The impact might not be felt immediately, but in no time it will result in severe whiplash.” That’s how Nico de Jager, MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services for the City of Johannesburg describes it. “When power is restored at peak time, an excess of 11000 volts will cause more trips.”
“This cable is older than I am,” said the City Power supervisor in charge of replacing the old cable on Tana Road in early March. It caused huge parts of Emmarentia to be without electricity for more than 24 hours. Substations around Johannesburg are struggling to keep the lights on.
Thirdly, overhead copper cable theft is rife during load shedding as it is a safe time for the thieves. Any ‘repair’ activities taking place during load shedding are illegal and should be reported to 011 490 7900/7911/7553.
Fourthly, the Cyclone Idai caused severe damage in Mozambique, damaging pylons and transmissions line. This consequently affected 900 MW of power supply to Eskom, also contributing to Eskom having to implement severe load shedding schedules in Johannesburg.
During these extended periods of load shedding your gate or garage battery backup may very well not be adequate and you may have to revert to a manual setting. It is not safe to go out in the dark and open your driveway gate manually. Gate Repair Services therefore recommends installing an extra 40AH battery backup to keep your gate or garage motor on during loadshedding.
