Johannesburg City Power has implemented a long-term strategy to keep the lights on when Eskom implements load shedding.
Media officer for City Power Hloni Motloung said the power supplier has come up with a mitigation strategy to minimise the impact of load shedding.
“It is a long-term strategy where we look at the capacity generated by independent power producers and compare it to Eskom’s available capacity,” he said.
During Eskom’s load shedding schedules on Monday and Tuesday, City Power was able to augment its power supply by getting excess capacity from Kelvin Power Station and from the activation of load limiting in certain areas.
“Load limiting allows City Power to remotely monitor household energy usage and curb excessive consumption using smart meters, while ripple control allows the utility to switch off energy-intensive geysers when the grid is under pressure,” Motloung said.
According to Motloung City Power purchases electricity at a similar rate to what it pays Eskom.
In December 2014, Kelvin Power Station in Kempton Park was sold for a fifth time and is jointly owned by Investec and Nedbank Capital.
The aged coal-powered station (built in 1957) technically has the capacity to generate 600 MW. — Fin24