In 2022 we had to deal with power outages(Load shedding it's called)..... We were without power for 147 days....that's a total of 3528 hrs...🤬🤬🤬🤬... believe it or not it's actually getting worse.....At the moment we don't have power for between 9 and 12 hrs a day....EVERYDAY!!... Like I've said before Never take for granted where you live.... Other than that everything is just dandy.... Stay well Frens...
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This will be the reality here in the states in a few years. I live in a formally red state, now blue. I have seen the forecasts for the next few years for my company in this state. We will be 2000 MW in the hole within 5 years. The transmission lines aren't large enough to bring that amount of power from out of state, plus every other state will be having the same issues. On top of that we will be retiring "aka shutting down permanently" nearly 1000mw of older units in my company alone. Upper management is scrambling to setup dozens of simple cycle units (40mw each) to try and compensate for the shortfall. Last i heard, they haven't even made the purchase yet. My memory is a bit foggy, but they are calling these gas units supplemental renewable units.
These rolling blackouts will be easier to manage due to smart meters. Kinda like they knew what was in store.
ESKOM , which is the sole Energy supplier owned by the state needs approx 6000MW at the moment to keep the lights on ... They have +-60000MW capacity of which +- 14000MW is offline due to planned maintenance...+-17000MW is offline due to breakdowns....That leaves half of the Capacity that we have available...Not forgetting that the Cable thieves come out during these planned power outages(Loadshedding...They have a timetable of where and when the power will be turned off!) to steal what they can making the situation even worse...
https://www.eskom.co.za/dataportal/outage-performance/weekly-eskom-generation-capacity-breakdown/
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ESKOM+generating+capacity&atb=v314-1&ia=web
Your point on offline due to breakdowns is important. Continued neglect ("managed decline" according to my VP) , will result in much more offline than need be. These facilities are quite literally falling apart around us. Its gotten much worse in my time here.
Do they at least keep emergency services powered?
No ..🤬
So hospitals are cut off during those blackouts?