“South Africa prepares for Stage 9 load-shedding” – (Part 1)
https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/490273-south-africa-prepares-for-stage-9-load-shedding.html
5 May 2023
Eskom’s System Operator has updated its code of practice around load-shedding that will govern how municipalities must respond to Stage 9 or higher power cuts, News24 reports, https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/stage-9-and-beyond-protocols-get-ready-to-roll-20230505.
Chair of the National Rationalized Specifications (NRS) Association, Vally Padayachee, said the new code would be submitted to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in the coming days.
Once approved by Nersa, the code holds legal status.
“There has been a lot of consultation, but we need to now put a stop date on it for the sake of the grid,” Padayachee said in an interview on Tuesday, 2 May 2023.
“We cannot guarantee that in winter, we will not go beyond Stage 8.”
He highlighted issues that could occur if South Africa were to go into Stage 9 load-shedding without a new code in place.
“Then the System Operator and municipal electricity distributors would have to use their own respective operating procedures to protect the national grid,” said Padayachee.
“In that environment, the propensity for human error is very possible.”
While he didn’t explicitly mention what could result from such human error, the codes of practice surrounding load-shedding are designed to protect the integrity of the grid.
Failure to follow the code, or the absence of the code, could result in the grid frequency fluctuating above or below 50Hz — the frequency that keeps the grid alive.
If this were to happen, the grid could collapse and plunge the country into darkness. Restarting the grid is difficult and time-consuming, and South Africa could be without power for weeks.
Eskom’s System Operator sets out how electrical load is shared among users, and the previous code only gave distributors directives up to Stage 8.
Each stage of Eskom’s rotational power cuts equals up to 1,000MW of load being shed. Under Stage 8, South African residents are subjected to 48 hours of power cuts in a four-day cycle of 96 hours.
Stage 9 load-shedding would require more hours, which is set out in the System Operator’s new code of practice.
Padayachee, in April 2023, said Eskom was reviewing the load-shedding framework to prepare for stages higher than Stage 8.
“Eskom’s grid is at a critical stage, and no professional can guarantee that South Africa could not go beyond stage 8 load-shedding,” he said.