Koeberg power station’s unit two will probably be shut down over the weekend after an incident when a crane came into contact with a line connecting the unit to the transmission system.
Eskom initiated a controlled shutdown of the unit after the incident on Thursday and a team was still assessing the damage, the utility said on Friday.
”We are calling on all consumers of electricity in the Cape to conserve electricity over the weekend, while we do everything in our power to normalise the situation at Koeberg,” said managing director for transmission Jacob Maroga.
Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu said they would only know when the unit would be back in operation once the team gained access to the insulated lines.
Power is being supplied to the Cape from Koeberg’s unit one, power stations in the north of the country and peaking stations in the Cape.
Zulu said there would not be a repeat of the Koeberg blackouts suffered in 2005 and 2006.
The risk of power supply interruptions in this case was the same as if unit two had been shut down for normal maintenance.
Everything should run smoothly as long as there were no other technical problems on the lines or other power stations.
However, if consumers contained their demand even more over the weekend, the risk of even this kind of situation would be further minimised, Zulu said. — Sapa