South Africa is running out of electricity

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IBG - SA Instrumentation & Control Buyers' Guide

November 2005 News

Articles in the Sunday Times and in Business Day, in the latter part of 2005, have both covered the tenuous state that the country is in regarding a steady supply of power.

Business Day reported the occurrence of ongoing power cuts in August, in Johannesburg. At a similar time an audit, by the National Electricity Regulator, identified serious problems concerning the city's electricity utility.

This month the Sunday Times reported a major blackout in the Western Cape which caused traffic chaos and shut down business as a result of a malfunction at Koeberg nuclear power station.

This Sunday paper has also reported on the existence of an entire 7000 strong community, in the Durban area, surviving without electricity - a situation, like others, that will need to be remedied and which will only result in an increased drain on the already burdened electricity utilities around the country.

The country's population and economy are growing and the demand for electricity is growing with it.

Concerns regarding South Africa's power supply include insufficient maintenance standards for power equipment, and inconclusive evidence that protection systems are being tested regularly. There appears to be an inadequate upkeep of sites and substations and the negative impact on the environment remains on the backburner.

An Eskom spokesperson, Carin de Villiers, believes that the country could literally be 'left in the dark' in 20 years time and that the Western Cape would have more blackouts as early as the winter of 2007. Eskom has agreements with large companies to switch off power to some of their auxiliary systems, and has had to invoke these agreements fairly regularly already.

IDC Technologies, along with some of South Africa's leading engineers and technicians, are presenting a conference designed to confront some of these issues - The 2005 Emergency Power Supplies Conference. It is to be presented on 23 and 24 November 2005 at the Conference Park in Midrand.

This Conference presents an excellent opportunity to; network with peers, gain significant information regarding the new technologies available in the emergency power supplies domain and become familiar with methods of troubleshooting and problem-solving power issues.

Over the two days of the conference many power experts will be presenting on a range of issues, including Thomas Jacobs, an emergency power specialist, from Eskom.

Prior to the commencement of the conference two workshops will be presented on the 22nd November 2005. They will be half day workshops; the first on power quality and earthing and the second on uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and batteries.

For more information contact Shellie Dodds, IDC Technologies, 011 883 2859, shellie@idc-online.com, http://eps.idc-online.com - or call 0800 114 160, toll free.

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South Africa is running out of electricity

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