Power outages in SA?

[USEngineer]

I understand that power is planned to be out most days, mid day. No power at all? How does this work? How do you keep food in the refrigerator from going bad? And what about all those flashing digital clocks...

Do people have backup gas generators hooked up for their homes?

[Maverick]

Power outages approx 1 - 2 times a week for about a 2 and a half hour period.

Food in fridge wont go bad for power being off for only 2 and a half hours.

Reset flashing clocks every time. Really frustrating.

Some people have diesel backup generators - some do not.

Times vary from area to area on a rotation basis. This month my outage is from about 1300-1530 but from next month it could be from 0800-1030 or 1700-2030 etc.

This might have to go on for the next 5 years until more power plants are built as they just cant keep up with the demand. Hopefully it wont be that long. It disrupts business service / traffic lights which in turn causes chaos traffic jams / trying to cook dinner at night etc.... really really poor show!

[synthia]

My gosh, how did this happen? Is it failure to plan? People resisting all kinds of power plants (no one wants new dams, coal fired plants, oil fired plants, or nuclear plants, with leaves them with impractical options)? Or has demand grown so much?

I thought, a long time ago when I lived there, that they were going to do several new nuclear plants. What happened?

[BARBS1]

You're right - it was major failure to plan. Warnings were given years ago to the suppliers and nought was done about it.....
More frustrating than the power outages at home are the absence of traffic lights..... causes a lot of traffic jams and you just have to be so careful coz not everyone obeys the rule of 'first at the light - first to go'.
Fine for housewives like me, we cook during the day if we are expecting our power cut at night, most others just find a take-away (you might have to go a few suburbs further to find one that's not in the dark!).
Engineers from France etc have been pulled into the country to assess and hopefully look into rectifying the problem in the years to come. But rest assured - this will not be done within 5 years. Sub-stations are starting to blow up, apparently because of being switched on and off continuously.
Businesses are suffering and thus losing money, causing an outcry.
That's another reason why people are leaving this country in droves - bad Govt planning..... in more ways than one.

[Daxk]

The Govt wanted to bring other Power Production players in,which did'nt happen as the Internationals, quite rightly, were'nt prepared to invest where the buyer set the price.
Eskom,faced with the threat of competition,stopped expansion.
They also were the foremost facilitator of AA which drove huge amounts of skill overseas( remember the coloured Engineer who took Eskom to Court and lost because he was'nt black enough??)
Lack of skills and management meant maintenance fell behind, The coal Transporting Companies werent disadvantaged enough so they got fired, new BEE Companies were given the contracts at Rates per ton that were impossible to make any real profit from so the BEE Coal transporting Companies did'nt maintain either their trucks or the roads so in January this year Eskom was down to virtually no coal and then had major System failures due to Lack of maintenance.
As to maverick's comment, Domestic consumption only consumes 30% of Eskoms production.
The ANC were warned that the Government had to spend on infrastructure, they just figured we could run another extension cord to a lamp post.
Eskom also supplies virtually all of Zimbabwe's power,for which we have'nt been paid in 10 years.
The problem is exponential,the pumps at the sewerage works that drive the filtration process are electric,at the main one in Gauteng there are 395 pumps and only 30 generators for emergencies,The pumps at all Stations have not had any maintenance schedule adhered to in 7 years, if the Pumps break down or do not pump then the Drinking water system is breached with raw sewage. to date 80 children have already died in the Eastern Cape,
however, we are told there is no problem.
Maverick, if every household in SA was electrified, consumption would only increase by 11% of Eskoms Production.
The other problem is that with the power out, you have no electric fences or gates.

[synthia]

DaxK - I think Maverick was talking about the day to day effect of the outages on on his life, not implying that domestic usage was the cause of the problems.

Is there any talk of mini-plants? While they are still big, some countries have addressed problems by using new mini-plant (comparatively mini) because they can be brought on line much quicker.

[Daxk]

Yes, Synthia, but thats a short term solution,they are also puting up Wind farms, trying to recommission old Coal Fired Power plants,,
They've contracted a French Company to build but it takes 5 years to Build enough Power plants.
Apart from anything else, there is a worldwide shortage of Stainless Steel and Concrete.
South Africa have begged, borrowed and put prisons,Hospital and Schools construction on hold so they can have the PR from a couple of Soccer games in 2010.They are way over their existing allocations of SS and Industrial Concrete.

[Maverick]

yeah i was just mentioning how the load shedding is affecting me and the average other person living in SA

[Daxk]

Aaah ok, Maverick, thought your comment that it was because of Demand increasing as per the spin Alec Irwin tried to put on it,"We have a problem because we have been so succesful" was what you believed.

my apologies

[jmspringbok]

We were just in the Cape Town area for 3 weeks and the electricity was out once for an hour or so. Cape Town is so windy and sunny they should take advantage of it.