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An investigation of the effects of potential electrical load-shedding on facility manager's strategic and operational decisions in industrial buildings: A case study of Perseverance Industrial Township, Nelson Mandela Bay
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) made the decision in 2008 to exempt industrial areas from load-shedding to avoid job losses. However, during 2019, when South Africa was experiencing prevalent periods of load-shedding, residents, and small business owners in other areas, protested this. On the...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Construction Economics and Management
2023
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| Summary: | Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) made the decision in 2008 to exempt industrial areas from load-shedding to avoid job losses. However, during 2019, when South Africa was experiencing prevalent periods of load-shedding, residents, and small business owners in other areas, protested this. On the 9th of December 2019, Eskom announced on Twitter, and implemented Stage 6 loadshedding for the first time (Eskom, 2019), and subsequently on the 11th of December 2019, NMBM posted new load-shedding schedules for Stages 5 to 8, which included the previously excluded industrial areas, including Perseverance, a suburb of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in the district of Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) with uninterrupted and preferential electricity supply since 2000. As Industries in Perseverance have not been subjected to load-shedding since load-shedding commenced, the enterprises in Perseverance have not been incentivized to make allowance and/or budget for, any interruption to their industrial activities. The nature of many of the industries that subsequently invested in Perseverance, were industries, that are dependent on uninterrupted electricity, to manufacture their products cost effectively, and without harm to their employees or the environment. This research aimed to investigate the effects of potential electrical load-shedding on facility manager's strategic and operational decisions in industrial buildings, with a case study focused on Perseverance. An overarching qualitative case study with an embedded convergent parallel mixed method design, consisting of 20 quantitative survey questionnaires from participants in Perseverance and 11 qualitative semi-structured interviews with facility managers, plant engineers and/or managing directors of enterprises in Perseverance. A further 14 quantitative survey questionnaires were received from enterprises in the remainder of NMB. The findings revealed the shock and concern from facility managers to the threat of potential electrical load-shedding and revealed the operational and strategic decisions that was considered, since December 2019 as well as their way forward to manage the threat of electrical load-shedding in Perseverance. It was also revealed that sustained transparent communication needs to be initiated between industrialists and NMBM. |
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