South Africa will probably have to deal with stages two and three open-shedding for the next two years to allow Eskom to carry out the maintenance of its power units, the utility’s chairman, Mpho Makwana, said there.
The country is suffering the worst load since Eskom introduced blackouts more than 15 years ago, with some areas without power for up to 10 hours in total every day in stage six. Eskom says the blackouts are needed to avoid a total collapse of the network as aging and poorly managed units struggle to produce enough electricity to meet demand.
In a media briefing of the Eskom management team on the energy crisis, Makwana said the team was working hard at the power plant to improve the reliability of the units.
He admitted that closing the country from one stage of releasing the burden to another in a short period of time was not good, but said that this was necessary to implement the recovery plan “while giving the country a level of consistency in planning for livelihoods”.
In a statement also issued on Sunday, Eskom said that the failure of the chimney system in October 2022 at the Kusile power station, which eliminated more than 2 000 megawatts of capacity, was the main cause of the phase of load shedding. This, along with the planned complete outage of one unit of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, is responsible for three stages of open-shedding.
“We are working with urgency to resolve generation capacity constraints and to reduce load-shedding as soon as possible,” said Eskom. “But the reality is, resolving the issues affecting the performance of the generation coal fleet will take longer than South Africa wants and needs.”
The company reiterated that there are deep structural and maintenance problems in its aging fleet of generators, which average 45 years of age this year, just five years away from the typical 50-year operating life of a power station.
“In this context, Eskom has stated that the only way to stop load shedding is to add additional capacity. The current shortfall is approximately 4 000MW to 6 000MW of generation capacity. This supply deficit can only increase as the current fleet ages and performance continues it’s broken,” the utility said.
During the media briefing, Makwana said that the key to the successful recovery of Eskom’s fleet “is to solve the systemic problems that plague the organization such as poor leadership, organizational culture and internal controls needed to operate the organization. These will be installed as part of the recovery plan.
He said Kendal, Matla, Majuba, Duvha, Tutuka and Kusile stations are reliable and getting additional units in Kusile functions will stop load shedding in two years.
“We must also protect and maintain the best power plants such as Matimba, Medupi [and] Lethabo not to be damaged,” he added
Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter, who resigned in December but will remain on the job until March 31, said that as winter approached, the utility would reduce planned maintenance, in line with its practice of scheduling more maintenance during the summer months. lower demand.
But De Ruyter warned that system capacity may be limited and supplies will be tight for the rest of the year.
On a positive note, he said there are approximately 9 200MW generation projects attached to the pipeline. “When the project is added to the grid, it will start to be in the grid at the end of this year. We will see a significant difference to the supply situation.
De Ruyter noted that there had been speculation about a reduction in the load of the launch until stage eight, saying that the possibility was receding, but there were still risks involved.
He appealed to consumers to pay for electricity to help overcome Eskom’s financial constraints. “Liquidity remains a major issue with municipal debt now approaching R57 billion.
“If we don’t receive payment for the electricity we provide, we must be compromised from the position to carry out the planned maintenance, to buy raw materials and diesel that we need to stay alive. So paying your bills is a very important role that you can play as an individual to help ease the burden.”
In its statement, Eskom said it will implement the third phase of load-shedding from Sunday evening until 5am on Monday.
“The second phase of load-shedding will be carried out during the day from 5 am to 4 pm, and the first phase of load-shedding will be carried out every day. On Monday afternoon, the fourth phase of load-shedding will be carried out from 4 pm to 5 am. The evening load shedding will be reduced to stage three from Tuesday until further notice.
Six generating units are expected to return to service during the week, which will enable Eskom to maintain open-waste in the lower stages, but the utility statement warned that there is a significant risk to this outlook, because this system is unreliable and unpredictable.