By Caryn Dolley and Natasha Joseph
Amid fears of a diesel shortage in the Western Cape this festive season, Eskom says a liquid fuel shortage is "aggravating a very serious situation" of rolling blackouts.
But the industry denies diesel is in short supply.
Since early on Monday parts of South Africa were plunged into darkness in two-and-a-half-hour rolling blackouts when four of Eskom's generators experienced technical problems and had to be pulled off the national grid, causing "a major capacity shortage".
The blackouts are expected to continue until Friday.
Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager of strategy, said the power situation in the Western Cape was being aggravated by a liquid fuel shortage, which meant a number of gas turbines and power stations could not operate.
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These turbines were usually used to avoid load shedding.
"We're shedding 2 500 megawatts at the moment. At the same time, 600MW are not available because of (diesel supply) constraints. This isn't a major problem, but it is making a contribution and aggravating a very serious situation.
"We don't use the normal diesel, but a slightly different type which has a different content," Etzinger said.
The South African Petroleum Retailers Association said there was a diesel shortage and this was causing problems at service stations which would probably continue during the festive season.
But the South African Petroleum Industry Association's director, Connel Ngcukana, said it was not aware of a fuel shortage and a meeting would be held on Tuesday to discuss fuel supplies during December.
While the Department of Minerals and Energy also said it did not know about any fuel shortages, Eskom maintained that a lack of liquid fuel was affecting gas turbines and small power stations.
Etzinger said the power supply was expected to return to normal by Friday. "By Friday certain out-of-service generators will be back in service and things should then start clearing up.
"When it comes to weekends the demand for electricity is also less," Etzinger said.
He said while consumers should use appliances and electrical equipment such as geysers and air conditioners sparingly, he did not think Christmas lights needed to be switched off.
"It won't really make a difference because Christmas lights don't take up that much electricity. But if consumers go into shops to buy lights they should look out for the energy-efficient ones."
Etzinger said no problems were expected for the weekend before Christmas.
Meanwhile, the city's public lighting manager, Charles Kadalie, said he was being "kept in the dark" about the electricity situation.
"We've been asked to load shed to help Eskom manage, but I haven't been told what has caused the rolling blackouts or how long they will last," he said.
Kadalie said the areas first affected by power outages on Monday included Sun Valley, Brackenfell, Somerset West and Strand. Some areas in Plumstead were also left without power for more than three hours and traffic lights across the city were affected.
A City of Cape Town employee working in the traffic signals division, who asked not to be named, said the majority of phone calls received on Monday had been complaints about traffic lights not working.
He warned that while some traffic lights at busy intersections had uninterruptible power supplies for back-up during blackouts, most traffic lights would be affected by power outages.
Load shedding schedules are available on the Eskom website (www.eskom.co.za).
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on December 11, 2007
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