Power cuts: Bay business holds its breath
BIG businesses in Nelson Mandela Bay are holding their breath as possible load-shedding in the second half of this week could further interrupt the city's already fragile power supply.
On Monday, Eskom said it would not continue with its load-shedding schedule, but the system would be under extreme pressure today and tomorrow.
General Motors SA corporate communication's manager Gishma Johnson said any power dip or blackout would have a negative effect on production at the Port Elizabeth vehicle manufacturer.
"It appears that the prognosis for the rest of the week is considerably better than expected.
"Tomorrow carries the highest risk, but even then we expect we will get through," she said.
While Continental Tyre SA (CTSA) said the company had reduced its evening operation's energy consumption from 16MW an hour to 8MW/h through energy saving, the company was still heavily reliant on the grid.
CTSA manufacturing general manager Wayne Brown said power interruptions would affect tyre production at the Port Elizabeth factory.
Coca-Cola Fortune managing director Philip Nieman said the company had adequate emergency generators to keep production running in case of load-shedding at its five bottling plants across South Africa, including the one in Port Elizabeth.
However, he said it was quite expensive to run production on diesel generators due to the fuel cost. "We have been investigating renewable energy options, including solar PV [photovoltaic] units," Nieman said.
SA Breweries communications head Robyn Chalmers said Port Elizabeth's Ibhayi Brewery was working closely with the municipality to minimise the effect of blackouts.
Volkswagen Group of SA communication manager Matt Gennrich did not expect load-shedding to affect the plant this week. - Cindy Preller