Power Alert: An Innovative System to Control Residential Loads Under Peak Conditions Using National TV

Abstract

The Western Cape region of South Africa experienced severe pow-
er supply problems between February and August 2006. The reason for
this was that Eskom, the electricity supply utility, lost one of its nuclear
supply units. Forecasts predicted a winter shortfall of 300 MW for the
region out of an average supply of about 4000 MW. It was clear that if
something could not be done to reduce demand, power outages would
be experienced. The main concern was the evening peak between 18:00
and 21:00, due to the high evening load.
Eskom sent out a request for proposals to energy solution provid-
ers and ESCOs to come up with solutions to the crisis. The problem was
that there was not enough time to implement solutions like residential
hot water control systems in the 625,000 households of the Western
Cape. The total residential load was around 1,200 MW.
Energy Cybernetics, an energy solution provider, came up with
the solution to use the national TV broadcaster to inform the public on
the status of the electricity supply network between 18:00 and 21:00 on
weekdays. Energy Cybernetics and Yardstick implemented the project
for Eskom. It was called power alert.
Power alert made use of real-time total electrical load data ob-
tained from Eskom’s national control centre to identify when the elec-
trical supply was under strain. Predictive modeling was also used to
determine the total electrical demand for the Western Cape based on
real-time data, historical data, and predicted weather conditions.