Power Play Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
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The cache is situated just off Sir Lowry’s Pass near Grabouw, Western Cape, overlooking the Palmiet River.
Eskom is a South African electricity public utility that was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) by the government of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act (1922). It was also known by its Afrikaans name, namely, Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). The two acronyms were combined in 1986 and the utility is now known as ESKOM. The utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa, is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of revenue.
Eskom used the technical know-how of The Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company Ltd. to build its first power station at Witbank. The total capacity of this power station was 128 MW. Today Eskom generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa.
Apart from its numerous other power stations Eskom operates two pumped storage hydroelectric schemes. These are the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme (1000 MW) and the Palmiet Pumped Storage Scheme (400 MW) near Grabouw, Western Cape.
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines. Although the losses of the pumping process makes the plant a net consumer of energy overall, the system increases revenue by selling more electricity during periods of peak demand, when electricity prices are highest. Pumped storage is the largest-capacity form of grid energy storage currently available.
The cache site overlooks part of the upper reservoir on the Palmiet River. The power station is about 2km downstream at the Kogelberg Dam.
To get to the cache park at the viewpoint at Sir Lowry’s Pass (S34 08.973 E018 55.684) and walk for about 30 meters up the gravel road. At the no entry sign turn off the gravel road to the left and follow the track round to the cache site. Please replace the cache safely in its receptacle. The cache contains a log but please take along a pen/pencil to sign the log.
The cache is situated just off Sir Lowry’s Pass near Grabouw, Western Cape, overlooking the Palmiet River.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vgf fgnevat ng lbh. 1TNY/YBH54.
Treasures
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