Eskom expects units from Kusile and Tutuka power stations to be back online in November
The return of Kusile power station’s units in November will help Eskom suspend load-shedding in time for the festive season.
This is according to Eskom’s acting group chief executive, Calib Cassim, who said on Thursday that the utility was ahead of schedule with planned projects at Kusile.
“If we can be able to bring all three units back online by November, that will be a bonus, but we are hopeful that when the two units come back in November, it will have a positive outcome for our festive season,” he said.
Cassim said the utility plans to add 2 880 megawatts from Kusile to the grid before the end of the year.
He said that if performance keeps improving, the demand side can be managed and there is a better outlook for the country in 2024.
Cassim was confident that Tututka, Kriel and Kendal power stations would also see improved performance.
“We did very well during the winter. Our summer plan is awaiting approval but we believe it will be sufficient to cater for the summer period.”
He said Eskom was performing better and had noted positive moves such as keeping breakdowns to below 16 000 megawatts because of improvements at “problem” power stations.
Eskom chairperson Mpho Makwana said two units that went offline at Tutuka would be fixed by November. The return of units at Medupi were expected early next year.
He added that Duvha, Matla and Majuba power stations were performing better, which was evidenced in the reduced load-shedding stages.
Koeberg
But, said Makwana, attention needed to be given to the Koeberg nuclear power station and Tutuka coal-fired power station. Eskom has previously said that Tutuka is riddled with corruption and underperformance.
Koeberg’s unit one is set to come back online in November before unit two goes offline for repairs.
Last week, Eskom announced that it had reached a significant milestone after its engineers completed the replacement of the steam generators at unit one.
“The mechanical work is the most significant part of the scope and work involves complex activities. The completion thereof means Eskom is now proceeding with the outage activities that could not be performed in parallel with the replacement of the steam generators,” it said.
There was also a payment discrepancy between Eskom and Framatome, a French nuclear reactor company doing the repairs at Koeberg.
Kusile exemption
Three units at Kusile went offline last October after a flue gas duct at Kusile’s unit 1 collapsed under the weight of ash build-up inside the chimney. The collapse also affected units 2 and 3, and Eskom effectively lost about 2 100 megawatts of capacity.
Eskom sought a temporary exemption to run the three Kusile units without flue gas desulphurisation technology, which is used to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions.
The exemption was approved by Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy the utility from the “lengthy process” required to amend its atmospheric emission licence, to reduce load-shedding.
Cassim noted that he saw a real change in morale of the workers who he saw gathered in a room putting heads together to fix the problems at Kusile.
“When I visited Kusile three weeks ago, I noticed that the workforce is important and that the colleagues needed support and motivation, to show that we are all working together”, he said.
Mandisa Nyathi is a climate reporting fellow, funded by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa