The once-frequent occurrences of load shedding, implemented by Eskom, have notably decreased. While this positive shift is a relief to all South Africans, it’s still important to recognize that the need for Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems remains. In this blog, we will explain why UPS systems remain necessary, even as load shedding has abated (for now).
- Mitigating Downtime
While load shedding may be less frequent, there are other factors that can disturb the power supply. These include:
Maintenance in the Area
Often, local municipalities schedule power outages in a small area to repair or upgrade local transformers, but entire cities may experience a power outage if Eskom needs to repair the substations that feed the cities due to malfunctions.
Unforeseen Outages
There are countless ways in which outages can catch us unprepared, to name a few:
Weather
In the last week, in the Western Cape, there have been quite a few instances of trees falling on power lines due to strong winds, which caused blackouts.
Cable theft
Criminal elements cut the power lines to steal the copper wiring inside for a quick cash grab. This is easier to do during load shedding but leads to extended power outages.
Insufficient or no preventative maintenance
Just like a UPS, an electrical grid, along with its transformers and switchgear, requires regular maintenance:
- Electrical lines need cleaning, especially of insulators, etc., to keep the high AC voltage on the lines in check. Otherwise, it will flash over to the ground and cause major faults and damage.
- Switchgear for high voltage power distribution along the power supply network needs regular maintenance and cleaning to prevent it from blowing up when it is switched on or off or when there is a fault that it must protect against. Often, during such instances, people doing maintenance or work in a substation are severely hurt or killed.
- Transformers use oil to cool, and this oil needs to be filtered, cleaned, and checked on a regular basis to ensure it operates properly. If this preventative maintenance is not done, the transformers can suffer severe faults and even catch fire.
Loadshedding
Just because load shedding happens less often doesn’t mean it’s not still part of our everyday lives—it could return at any given moment, especially with winter on the way, which puts added strain on the already fragile power grid. Maintenance is still to be done on the power plants, including three units that are planned to be taken off the power grid this year to allow for remedial work to be done. This work is only expected to be completed late in 2025 and makes up a huge chunk of the current capacity, on top of the unforeseen breakdowns and human errors that could lead to load shedding once again.
- Protecting Your Sensitive Equipment from “Dirty Power”
Voltage Fluctuations
The power grid is subject to fluctuations in voltage levels due to various factors, such as sudden changes in demand, equipment failures, reverse voltages from power regeneration of the load, or voltage regulation issues. These fluctuations can cause the voltage supplied to electrical equipment to vary beyond operational limits. Sensitive electronic devices like servers, computers, networking equipment, and medical equipment are designed to operate within specific and very limited voltage ranges. When exposed to voltage fluctuations, these devices may experience malfunctions, data loss, or even permanent damage, leading to costly repairs.
Surges and Spikes
Power surges and spikes are sudden, brief increases in voltage that can occur due to lightning strikes, switching operations, or when larger appliances like air conditioners or elevators are turned on and off. Surges and spikes can deliver an excessive amount of energy to electronic equipment, overwhelming their internal components or switchgear, surge arrestor, and fuse protection, causing immediate or cumulative damage over time.
Power Quality Issues
Apart from voltage fluctuations, power quality issues like harmonic distortion, voltage sags, voltage surges/spikes, and frequency variations can also affect the performance and reliability of electronic equipment. These issues may arise due to non-linear loads, imbalanced loads, or shortfalls in the power distribution system.
UPS systems act as a protective barrier against these various forms of electrical disturbances by providing these key features:
Voltage Regulation
UPS systems often incorporate voltage regulation mechanisms to stabilize the voltage supplied to the connected equipment, ensuring that it remains within safe operating limits. To make sure that your sensitive loads are always 100% protected from any bad power supply, make use of the most reliant technology on the market in the form of an online double-conversion UPS such as the Riello Sentinel Dual and STW UPS for smaller single-phase applications such as a few servers, a small plant room or small medical equipment.
For 3-phase UPS applications, it’s a must to have a highly reliable UPS that is fully supported locally in South Africa with proper spare holding as the original purchase price can be negligible when it comes to long-term effects when your UPS breaks down and you cannot get it fixed for weeks or even months. This happens on a regular basis in Southern Africa. It is wiser to opt for transformer-based UPS products that are proven more reliable and less costly in the long term to maintain, operate, and repair. The hardiness of the transformer-based UPS technology used in Riello UPS products, such as the well-priced, highly reliable, and simple MPT, the higher specification, and more efficient MHT for more complex sites such as data centres, buildings with harmonic problems and the like, and of course the Flagship of the Riello UPS fleet—the very high spec and highly efficient MHE which gives any user the best of all technologies available in the world UPS market.
Surge Suppression
UPS units are equipped with surge suppression components such as surge arrestors and transient voltage suppressors that divert excess voltage away from sensitive equipment during power surges and spikes. However, a UPS is not a surge protection device and should always be supported by high spec, properly sized, and calculated surge suppression further upstream in the supply to it.
Battery Backup
In addition to protection from all grid-related issues, UPS systems also offer a battery backup function. In the event of a power outage, the UPS will immediately make use of the DC power from the connected battery bank, which will either be internal, in the case of a PURELINE single-phase UPS, or external, in the case of a three-phase Reillo UPS like a Sentryum, MSR, MPT, MHT or the high spec MHE units. As there is absolutely no switching time, the connected inverter load will guarantee that critical systems remain operational until mains power is restored or until a safe shutdown can be initiated.
Switching to the battery when the power fails can cause a break in supply to critical loads if the inverter uses simple technology like off-line or line-interactive operation, but a RIELLO UPS using online double-conversion technology will never dip on the output as the battery is permanently connected to the common bus DC link supply along with the rectifier supply to the inverter so there is no switching time.
It should be noted that the solar inverters being installed all over South Africa, both big and small, all work with a technology whereby if the power fails, there is always a loss of power when they switch to or from. Never assume a solar inverter can replace a UPS; this myth is not true at all. You need a UPS between a solar inverter and the critical load to protect the switching power loss of the solar inverter, or you will learn the hard way when your loads connected to the solar inverter start failing at a rapid rate due to this switching on and off along with the spikes and dips in power it creates.
- Ensuring Operations Continue
Beyond protecting equipment and data, UPS systems play a critical role in maintaining operational continuity. Whether you’re a small business, a healthcare facility, a financial institution, or an industrial complex, uninterrupted power is essential for delivering services, supporting customers, and upholding regulatory compliance. A UPS serves as a reliable backup, offering peace of mind and ensuring that operations can continue in case these disruptions come to pass, regardless of the length of the outage. For more information, read our blog:
Conclusion
While we may be experiencing a bit of a break from load shedding, the importance of UPS systems cannot be overstated. These devices serve as a safeguard against power fluctuations, downtime, and data loss, ensuring business continuity and operational resilience. By investing in a UPS, you can mitigate risks, protect assets, and maintain a competitive edge in your industry.Standby Systems offers a comprehensive range of products and services. Our experienced technical team is ready to advise on the best UPS system and battery solutions for your business or industry’s needs. Visit Standby Systems’ website or contact us at 011 794 2541 or 011 794 3406 or WhatsApp 082 450 2361.