Something I would like clarification on.... is energy produced and then supplied directly on to the national grid or can it be stored in any way?
You hear Eskom talking about their "reserves" dipping below 10% etc. To me this implies that they are able to "store" the power for use during peak times. Now to me this means that saving electricity at 2am will help just as much as at 4pm.
Also if your argument held then why would load sheds be scheduled for after 6 at night and before 6 in the morning in Natal?
It's not generally feasible to 'store' electricity on any significant scale, it's generally produced and supplied directly.
I think what you're referring to is when Eskom talks about their so-called "reserve margin". If your economy needs say 10MW peak, your generating capacity needs to be higher than that by some margin, for various reasons, e.g. a.o. (a) you can never have 100% available (a small portion will always be down for maintenance, plus there are some limits in the network / distribution mechanisms) and (b) to be able to handle peaking above 10MW. So you build a 'reserve margin' into generating capacity, I don't recall the international benchmark for this but it's higher than 10%. Eskom has at least two problems: (1) Their reserve margin (potential max generating minus economy's needs) is smaller than it needs to be - probably around 10% only, and (2) a significant percentage (around 20%, estimated) of their potential generating capacity is currently 'stuffed' - e.g. BEE coal supplier problems (I'm sure that's a euphemism for 'corruption and stealing from the country'), poor maintenance leading to multiple breakdowns, etc.) - so their theoretical reserve might be 'enough' (if they're telling the truth and IF they were supplying at full potential) but in fact 20% is stuffed, so 10% - 20%, they're producing less than we need. Cuts must occur. This also strains the system and leads to further breakdowns. So when Eskom says their reserve margin is 'going below 10%' they're just trying to say they 'really don't have enough', but in a weasel-word-lying kind of way that is supposed to make you think there is 'actually' still enough, because they are implying they are "still in the reserve margin" as opposed to "truly in the negative" (if you fudge the math badly you can indeed make it look that way), to downplay the scale of the problem. So you see, you might think it's just bad luck you're sitting in the dark (that's what you're supposed to think), when in fact half the country probably is.
AFAIK one of the mini 'peak times' are the before work and after work times, because lights are on and people are e.g. cooking breakfast/supper, showering etc. - stoves and geysers are quite high usage - possibly work-time is worse, but they rotate the shedding, so one area gets hit for the morning/evening peaks, other areas get hit for work time etc., so that all areas at least have power during some times of day. It's difficult to say though, exactly, what's happening with the "before 6am" ... but industrial customers need massive amounts of power for example, and often need it 24 hours, thus there might still not be enough, and/or it could be that there's not enough even then because some sections are broken.
