By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved new guidelines that allows power utility Eskom to implement load shedding from stage 1 to 16.
The code of practice was developed by a group of experts appointed by the National Rationalised Specifications Association of South Africa (NRS Association).
The code had been submitted to Nersa for approval last year.
Chair of the management committee of the National Rationalised Specifications (NRS) Association of South Africa, Vally Padayachee, said that the new load shedding system should prevent the grid from collapsing after stage 8 load shedding.
As per the current guidelines, system operators across the country would have to implement emergency procedures if stage 8 occurs to prevent a grid collapse. Although Padayachee said that these operators are highly-skilled, he says that the current system allows for human error, increasing the chances.
He said that the proposed load shedding schedule will do away with human error, with a system in place to accommodate for as high as stage 16.
That said, he repeatedly noted that South Africa is unlikely to ever reach stage 16 – where 80% of the grid would have to be turned off. He said that including stage 16 is for unintended consequences of load shedding, which the NRS is considering as a prudent organisation.
The NRS has, however, shifted the goal posts for the “unlikely event” of load shedding worsening in the past. In 2010, the NRS introduced a system with only four stages of load shedding and then upgraded this to 8 stages of load shedding in 2019.
Although Padayachee said that South Africa is unlikely to hit stage 16, he said that there is a very real possibility that South Africa hits stage 9, 10 and 11 due to the strain in generation capacity.
“The increased control of how load shedding and load curtailment are determined and carried out, providing more stability to the network and more certainty to curtailment customers.”
On Friday afternoon, the embattled utility announced that power cuts will remain suspended until further notice.
Eskom said, load shedding will remain suspended until further notice following nine consecutive days of non-implementation. This is the longest break in load shedding since December 15 to January 2.