Load-shedding would be at much higher stages were it not for the typically lower demand in December/early January, an energy expert said on Tuesday.
Eskom is implementing stage 2 load-shedding and will escalate this to stage three from 5am on Wednesday, even as another unit of the Kusile plant returned to service earlier on Tuesday.
At present, 16,231MW of generating capacity is unavailable as a result of unplanned outages, while a further 8,451MW is offline for scheduled maintenance — making for a combined loss of 24,772MW of capacity.
“This is as bad as it has ever been in terms of unplanned breakdowns,” said Chris Yelland, MD of EE Business Intelligence. “It was only due to very low electricity demand which prevailed in December/early January that Eskom had not had to impose stages of load-shedding as high as five or six.”
Eskom said in a statement that three generating units (with a combined capacity of 2,148MW) hadn’t returned to service as expected after maintenance work, which had contributed to the decline in generating capacity. That’s in addition to the loss of six generating units (3,113MW).
Eskom’s load forecast for the evening peak demand for Tuesday is 23,011MW, though it expects that 4,921MW will return to service by the end of the week.
Eskom also announced it had successfully completed “a full load rejection test” on unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station on December 30. Yelland explained the test is an automatic shutdown to determine whether the safety control systems are working properly after the installation of a new steam generator to extend the life of the unit.
The power utility also said in a statement on Sunday it had synchronised Unit 5 of the Kusile Power Station to the grid, which will add 800MW of new capacity to help lessen load-shedding.
Eskom said the unit will supply electricity intermittently during the testing and optimisation phase over the next six months before it is operating commercially and is added to the generation fleet.
“As part of the generation recovery plan, the synchronisation of Kusile Unit 5 marks another significant milestone of sustainably improving our generation performance. This will contribute the much-needed power to the grid,” Eskom group executive for generation Bheki Nxumalo said.
Yelland said unit 5 was nine years behind schedule and should have been synchronised to the grid long ago.
Synchronisation was delayed for about 18 months after a fire, and units 1, 2 and 3 were inoperative for about a year when a duct failure of the flue gas desulphurisation plant caused severe damage. Those units were brought online from end-September 2023, adding 3,200MW to the grid. Construction of unit 6 is still under way. Once all six units are in operation, Kusile will be able to generate 4,800MW.
Eskom said repair work on a permanent stack for units 1, 2 and 3 was progressing well.
Acting group CEO Calib Cassim said Eskom remained focused “on improving the performance of the generation fleet to reduce the impact of load-shedding felt countrywide, and to lessen the costs on supplementing capacity using the diesel-powered plant”.
Efforts to return Medupi Unit 4 to service by end-July 2024 are also being intensified, he said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.