Eskom is letting this town avoid load-shedding

Eskom has announced that Clarens has become South Africa’s first “smart town” with the necessary systems to self-manage its load on the national grid.

This allows the town to avoid regular rotational power cuts by reducing its electricity demand during periods of load-shedding, through what Eskom terms “load curtailment”.

Clarens representatives and Eskom have said that permitting the town to manage its own load and avoid power cuts has allowed its tourism-based economy to thrive.

Eskom explained that Clarens was already gearing up for smart city initiatives — with smart metering and electrical vehicle charging stations already installed.

It also has a “well-diverse” spread of small-scale embedded generators — such as individuals and businesses with solar panels and battery storage.

“Eskom was eager to help Clarens residents in the evolution from an art town to a smart town,” the state-owned power utility said.

Eskom’s senior manager for retail in the Free State, Bibi Bedir, explained that load curtailment is not a new concept.

“Many municipalities and large customers countrywide have long been managing their own demand during times of supply constraints,” Bedir said.

“The concept of ‘group curtailment’ — where a community manages its own load curtailment — was however piloted in Clarens.”

Bedir said group curtailment requires the collaborative efforts of the entire community to reduce load when requested.

“Once a system emergency is declared, Eskom gives a nominated group coordinator two hours’ notice of load curtailment that should be sustained throughout load-shedding,” stated Bedir.

“The group coordinator directs the community who decides which equipment will be switched off to achieve the required demand reduction.”

During curtailment stages 1 to 4, cooperating customers must reduce demand by 10% to 20%.

Unlike load-shedding, where the customers are switched according to a schedule, load curtailment must be sustained.

Eskom monitors the reduction in demand of its curtailment customers — three strikes, and it will reinstate normal load-shedding on that user.

Augos, a company owned by Clarens local Gert Kruger, developed an application that signals residents when load curtailment is called.

Kruger is also Clarens’ load curtailment group coordinator.

He explained that a meter was installed at the town’s main point of supply that sends demand statistics to Eskom every 60 seconds.

This can prompt further load reduction if required.

“For a town that depends on tourism, not being subjected to load-shedding is life-changing,” Kruger said.

“Although the success depends on the voluntary participation of residents and businesses, we have the community’s support as everyone benefits from cooperating.”

He said that feedback from visitors, restaurants, and accommodation establishments has been positive.

“Without the noise of generators, tourists can enjoy Clarens’ natural beauty.”

Eskom said that the project has been a success so far.

Residents have been able to sufficiently reduce and manage their load, making the Clarens project a benchmark for similar projects to be rolled out in other areas of the country.