Eskom has warned that a cold front passing over the country and the shutdown of Koeberg Unit 2 could worsen its generating capacity constraints and require load-shedding to be implemented over the weekend.
“Eskom cautions the public that the system remains constrained and that stage 2 load-shedding might be required to be implemented at short notice during 16:00—24:00 this evening, and possibly during the evening peaks throughout the weekend,” the utility said.
Eskom revealed that Unit 2 at Koeberg nuclear power station was shut down on Friday morning due to a mechanical problem with a control rod mechanism.
“In order to rectify this, the unit has been safely shut down in accordance with nuclear operating procedure and the nuclear regulations,” the utility said.
“It has not yet been determined how long the repairs will take, but it could be up to five days, whereafter the unit will ramp up over three days.”
Eskom said the probability of load-shedding would be higher during this period.
Koeberg Unit 2 was offline for almost seven months after being taken down for refueling and maintenance before being synchronized back to the grid in the first week of August 2022.
It was expected to reach full generating capacity in about 10 days.
The unit previously suffered several delays in return to service after its maintenance programme had to be adjusted due to an embarrassing oversight by Koeberg personnel.
Eskom also expects the cold front passing over the country this weekend would increase demand for electricity, adding to the capacity constraints.
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“We, therefore, urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly,” Eskom said.
Over the past 24 hours, two units at Eskom’s Hendrina Power Station also suffered breakdowns, while the return to service of a generating unit each at Kendal, Komati, Kusile and Tutuka has been delayed, putting further strain on the system.
Eskom teams have returned to service a generating unit each at Kriel and Matla power stations.
As of Friday afternoon, the utility had 14,574MW of capacity unavailable due to breakdowns and 4,526MW of generation on planned maintenance.
Eskom anticipates that eight generating units were expected to return to service by Monday evening.
Source: News 24
