Loss of unit at Medupi a concern that is receiving attention, says Ramokgopa

Generating units at Eskom produced an average of 26,499MW on the week between November 13 and 17 — 2,000MW less than the week before — resulting in load-shedding reaching stage 3.

Briefing the media on the energy action plan, electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the previous two weeks were a major disappointment because in the weeks preceding them, Eskom's unplanned capacity loss factor was less than 15,000MW and in some instances under 14,000MW.

“Part of the deterioration is that we had significant failure of cluster of units at Eskom. From November 13 to 17, the available capacity was 26,499MW. That is lower than what was the baseline case in May. The week before that, we were 2,000MW better.

“What has been a major contributing factor is unplanned capacity loss factor had been more acute,” he said.

Eskom lost a number of generating units at Camden, Medupi, Duvha and Kriel power stations, he said.  

“Medupi is a big unit and much younger compared to units at various power stations. The area of concern is when one of the youngest units is failing ... It is something that is receiving attention.”

Ramokgopa said the power lost at the generating units in the past week amounted to over 2,700MW — just shy of three stages of load-shedding. “If we had not experienced that, we would not have seen the intensity of load-shedding we are experiencing.”

The recent return of units 1 and 3 at Kusile into service was significant because the intensity of load-shedding had not been acute, he said. “What units 1 and 3 create is an additional buffer. That is why unit 2 must return to create an additional buffer.”

Eskom expects five units to come back by Sunday night and two more units by Monday, Ramokgopa said, adding that failure to return units on time can be acute — as was the case with Koeberg, where unit 1 was returned to service on Saturday . It had been taken out of service in December last year as part of the plan to extend its lifespan by 20 years.

The plan was to take the unit out for 170 days, he said. “That is about four months of outage slip. This comes at a great cost. We are delaying the licensing of that power station by the regulator.”

The expectation was that unit 2 must return to service on time, he added.

“"We expect synchronisation of unit 1 to happen on December 2 and 3, then we would take out unit 2 to meet the licensing requirements.”

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