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How to Cope with Load Shedding

Some Ideas on How to Cope with Load Shedding

The latest round of scheduled power cuts by the national electricity provider has been the most severe to date. Today, more and more South Africans are wondering how the best way might be to cope with the effects of load shedding. Sadly, in the light of Eskom’s continued failure to overcome its shortcomings, a significant number of citizens now seem to think that emigration may be the only solution. Fortunately, for those whose intention it is to remain here, there are a number of possible ways in which to beat the blackouts.

Which of the possible solutions one may choose to adopt will depend both on how much one is prepared to spend and the nature of the various tasks that the alternative power source will be required to support. For some, just being able to keep the lights on at night might be how they will manage to cope with load shedding. Since food in refrigerators and freezers will not deteriorate significantly during a 2- to 3-hour period without electricity, many will opt to use a gas hob or braai as an alternative means to cook.

 

Coping with the Blackouts

A relatively small petrol-driven generator can provide enough electricity for lighting and could also power a security system and a TV set as well as chargers for mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. With all of the essentials covered, oven roasts, washing, spin-drying, and ironing can be left for another day. As for how to cope with load shedding and keep the entire home functioning, as usual, the answer will be to invest in a bigger generator and to have a qualified electrician connect its output into the home’s wiring system.

Of course, it is not only homes that need a source of standby power. Small businesses, offices, hotels, hospitals, places of entertainment, and most of the country’s manufacturing plants all have this need in common. Although their specific needs may vary quite widely, each of them has to know how best to cope with load shedding in their particular environment in order to avoid the potentially disastrous effects it can have on their ability to operate effectively. The greater their power requirements, the more generating capacity they will need. Only diesel or natural gas-driven units are designed to produce such a high power output.

That said, there are also instances in which the main concern is not to continue operating but to safeguard the products of an operation. This is the age of digital information in which banks and similar establishments devote the bulk of their time to the collection, processing, storage and retrieval of data. How to cope with load shedding has now become one of the greatest concerns for a financial institution and for data-processing facilities in general. Despite performing regular backups and establishing disaster-recovery facilities, a power outage can still pose a serious threat to the integrity of any data that has not yet been backed up, as well as to the physical integrity of the servers on which it is held.

To protect data and hardware from the effects of an outage, installing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is the option of choice. Whenever it is available, a UPS draws power from the mains supply to charge up a storage battery, after first converting it to direct current with an inverter. How it proceeds to cope with load shedding or even a significant a voltage dip, when either is detected, is to switch automatically to battery power, converting its output back to alternating current via the inverter.

Finally, domestic consumers and small businesses have been discovering how solar panels can offer an effective means to cope with load shedding. Whatever your need, PacB Group provides tailored solutions to beat the problem of power outages. Contact us today!