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South Africa: Power Station Woes Hit Eskom
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Siseko Njobeni
Johannesburg
WITH one of its Koeberg units down, Eskom experienced technical problems at two of its other power stations this week, with one of these expected back on stream at the weekend.
Eskom yesterday announced that the 669MW Majuba and 585MW Duvha power stations experienced technical failures in their generating units.
This put the national electricity grid under pressure and increased the possibility of load shedding, it said.
This comes shortly after Monday's shutdown of the Unit 2 generator at Koeberg, removing 900MW. The shutdown procedure, repairs and restarting of the unit would take three weeks, Eskom said.
"Specialists from Alstom, the original equipment manufacturer, which recently undertook work on the generator, are already on site to assist with the inspection, diagnosis of the problem and the repair work that will be required," Eskom MD for corporate services Steve Lennon said.
Lennon said at Majuba a submerged scraper conveyor which removes ash from the bottom of the boiler jammed. The unit was brought back on stream yesterday morning, he said.
The Duvha unit, on the other hand, experienced a boiler tube leak "and is expected back on stream by the weekend".
"While these incidents increased the risk of supply shortages, we did have adequate reserves which have enabled us to sustain power supply nationally over this period.
"These recent experiences do, however, serve to remind us that any loss of generating capacity places strain on the national grid.
"This is due to the underlying problem facing South African electricity supply, namely the inadequate reserve margin between available generation and demand. This will continue until the benefits of the expansion programme become available or we are able to reduce demand for electricity throughout the country," he said.
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Lennon said the risk of load shedding was high "in the next few weeks" while the Koeberg facility underwent repairs.
This plant beaking down, that plant breaking down,a negligence of maintainance over many years I call it.
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