Electricity cuts a great
irritation to fruit
industry
Carolize Jansen
E
skom, the national (and sole) electricity
provider in South Africa has embarked
on a programme of load shedding
(planned power outages) as a result of
maintenance on the grid. Such power outages
are not new, but previously they’ve usually
occurred in winter at times of high electricity
demand.
It’s unusual for Eskom to cut electricity during
summer, and for stone fruit packhouses it
couldn’t come at a worse time.
It is expected that these rounds of load
shedding – some parts of the Western Cape
experiencing two daily cuts of approximately
two hours duration each since last week –
will have a significant impact on the stone
fruit season. Fortunately, the load shedding
programme is announced in advance (even
if Eskom doesn’t always strictly keep to it,
causing annoyance when workers have been
told to remain at home and then there’s no
power cut) and the duration is only between
two to four hours at a stretch.
Since the major power cuts of 2011 and
2007, most packhouses have invested
in contingency plans and backup power
generators and the impact of load shedding is
therefore controlled.
At the harbours the terminals are ensured of
backup electricity, supplied by Transnet (the
national port and rail company), so that there
is no impact from power cuts at the points of
loading.
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
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