By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
South Africa returned to its new normal, Stage 6, as 10 generating units failed at various Eskom power plants.
This is the latest demonstration of the vulnerability of Eskom’s ageing coal plants as the utility enters winter with over 30% of its capacity unavailable.
This is because of a tender system that does not allow Eskom to buy directly from the manufacturer and therefore delays the procurement of parts and spares.
As a result, the return to service of units taken out for scheduled maintenance strips the grid of over 3,000 MW which would save the country from three stages of load shedding.
On Monday, the grid could not supply enough power for homes to cook and heat up in the evenings.
Eskom says it expected the evening surge in domestic use to plunge the grid to Stage 6 from 4 pm until 5 am every day until further notice.
“Due to delays in returning 10 generating units to service, Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented… Breakdowns are currently at 18,751 MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 2,407 MW.”
From Tuesday, residents can expect three power cuts which will add up to eight hours in the 24-hour cycle.
The possible good news about the grid is expected to trickle in from August when Koeberg Unit 1 returns to service with a capacity of 970 MW.
Additional capacity is also expected from the recovery of Kusile’s Units 1, 2, and 3 on 28 November, 11 December and 24 December.
Together these units produce 2,400 MW and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is betting on their return to service to reduce load shedding to Stage 1 and Stage 2 during the summer months.
Ramokgopa told the media he expected as much as 6,000 MW of electricity to be added to the grid over the next six months, including importing electricity from neighbouring countries.
“We are going to see significantly reduced levels of load shedding… Once we get to do all of these interventions, like importing from Mozambique as an example, and the issues around the procurement of emergency power, I will be able to aggregate what megawatts are possible,” said Ramokgopa.
Pictured above: Eskom workers
