Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says Stage 6 load shedding is expected to be implemented until Wednesday evening which will be followed by Stage 4 on Thursday morning with a further drop to Stage 3 by the weekend.
De Ruyter was speaking to the media following the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding on Monday after at least eight generating units and coal supply challenges caused severe constraints on the power grid.
He said that the power utility is working on bringing several units back to service to bring some relief to pressures the power system was experiencing.
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“We are looking at Lethabo [power station] unit 4, 5 and 2 and also a unit at Camden [power station]. Following that, we are looking at returning by the end of [Monday] about 3000MW of capacity followed by a further 2000MW each for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That will significantly alleviate the current constraint we face in terms of generation capacity and will reduce the risk.
“But where we are right now, given the fact that we are running our open cycle gas turbines hard, we have no option but to implement load shedding Stage 6…until Wednesday evening peak and by Thursday we will then be able to start phasing that down to Stage 4 with load shedding Stage 3 being reached by the weekend,” de Ruyter said.
He said high losses at generating units have contributed to a generating shortfall of nearly 6000MW for evening peak.
“[By Monday afternoon] we had full losses of 12 318MW which is extremely high and the reason for Stage 6 load shedding. Then we’ve got partial load losses – also very high – of 5993MW and then we have outside capacity load losses of relating mainly to the supply of coal at Lethabo…at 2100MW.
“The demand we are forecasting for [Monday] evening peak is 27 282MW and then there is a shortfall of generating capacity of 5834MW and…more or less, 1000MW of shortfall is equal to one stage of load shedding so you can see why we have to implement Stage 6 load shedding,” he said.
De Ruyter explained that the power utility is also facing long term breakdowns which have rendered at least 5000MW of generating capacity unavailable – putting severe strain on the power system.
“At Kusile [power station]…three units were rendered inoperable due to…a build-up of slurry in unit one’s flue. That flue collapsed…and gave rise to units two and three’s flues also collapsing. That accounts for 2160MW of capacity that ordinarily would have been available.
“Then we’ve got Koeberg [power station] unit one on an outage to replace its steam generator. That project is on track and is intended to be complete by the end of June after which we will take down unit two at the end of August. But Koeberg unit one leads to that 928MW not being available.
“At Kusile [power station] unit five where we had a gas air heater fire…we are now sitting at a synchronisation to the grid date of July of this year and that will add 700MW. At Medupi [power station] unit 4, we had a catastrophic hydrogen explosion…that is scheduled to return to service in September 2024,” he said.
De Ruyter said unexpected incidents such as those at Lethabo power station over the weekend which led to the loss of two generating units due to coal constraints and a further unit due to boiler tube leak left “the shortfall in generating capacity…very urgent”.
He urged the public to do their part in saving electricity.
“We do face a very constrained situation right at this point in time. We appeal to the public to use electricity sparingly. If you have any lights that you can switch off or any air-conditioners that are running that you don’t require, please switch those off.
“If you’re able to assist us by being mindful of your electricity consumption, that would be very much appreciated,” de Ruyter said.
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