Thursday, 12 January 2012: Eskom today releases the first of a regular weekly series of updates on the state of the power system, building on the quarterly State of the System briefings which it began in January last year.
This is in line with Eskom's commitment to transparent and regular communication on the power system, which is expected to be constrained for at least the next two years. We have been saying since late 2009 that the system would be tight in 2011 and that 2012 would be a particularly challenging year. We continue to be on alert and the new weekly bulletin is designed to keep all stakeholders up to date on developments in the supply and demand of power in South Africa. The quarterly briefings will also continue, with the first session for 2012 scheduled to take place later this month.
- Today (Thursday 12 January): The capacity available to meet this evening's peak demand is 34 618 MW while demand is forecast at 31 168 MW. Current planned maintenance stands at 4 461 MW. Unplanned outages are 3 678 MW.
- Yesterday (Wednesday 11 January): Peak demand of 31 108 MW met by available capacity of 32 601 MW.
- Tuesday (10 January): Peak demand of 30 753 MW met by available capacity of 31 840 MW.
- Monday (9 January): Peak demand of 30 282 MW met by available capacity of 30 742 MW.
- Peak demand for the rest of this week is forecast at 31 303 MW on Friday, 29 762 MW on Saturday and 29 205 MW on Sunday.
The performance of the system has improved since Monday. During the course of Wednesday, supply from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique (1 500 MW) was lost for approximately two hours. Although supply was restored the system remains constrained and customers are reminded to use electricity as efficiently as possible.
We urge all South Africans to partner with us to keep the lights on. If all our customers can save 10% off their electricity usage, this will make it significantly easier to manage the power system during this challenging time.
Issued by: Eskom Media Desk
Tel: +27 11 800 3304/3309/3343/3378
Cell: +27 82 805 7278
Fax: 086 664 7699
Email: mediadesk@eskom.co.za
