What Stage 4 load shedding will look like
Eskom is planning to make changes to its load shedding stages, splitting the current stage 3 into two stages, a spokesperson for the utility has told MyBroadband.
A date for the implementation of the change hasn’t been finalised yet, Eskom said.
Stage 3 load shedding currently allows for up to 4,000 Megawatts to be shed.
“The current stage 3 is a large stage of reduction, and there are sometimes occasions when the full stage is not required,” Eskom said.
After the changes take effect, the load shedding stages will provide for the following amounts of total load to be shed:
- Stage 1: total of about 1,000MW
- Stage 2: total of about 2,000MW
- Stage 3: total of about 3,000MW
- Stage 4: total of about 4,000MW
The Cape Town and eThekwini municipalities have already started referring to “Stage 3B” and “Stage 4” load shedding in preparation for the move to smaller stages.
Beyond Stage 4
Asked what would happen should 4,000MW of load shedding not be enough, Eskom said there are no published schedules after the current stage 3, and future stage 4.
“The National Control Centre (NC) instructs stages up to Stage 3 [and stage 4, from 1 May].”
It added if further load shedding is needed, the NC will instruct to shed at the highest stage, with an appropriate amount of additional load from each regional control centre depending on the constraint or incident.
For example, the instruction might be: “Implement Stage 4 and shed an additional 30MW”.
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