Cape Town - Koeberg Nuclear Power Station will switch off half its generating capacity in the next two months to enable routine maintenance and refuelling of its Unit 2, an Eskom spokesman has said.
The three-month shutdown of the unit will put increasing pressure on the country’s power supply which is struggling to meet demand during the current cold snap, according to the spokesman.
“But other reserve generators will make up for it,” he added. “This maintenance is planned ahead of time and provisions are made for it,” he said. “You must remember that Unit 1 was down earlier this year and we managed without it.”
Unit 2 is expected to be switched off late next month or early in September. In February, Unit 1 of the nuclear plant was shut down for a similar period, resulting in the loss of half of the plant’s 1 800 megawatt output.
The cold weather, which is freezing most of the country this week and is expected to continue into the weekend, has been placing a great burden on power supply, the spokesman said.
“It is very cold everywhere and the system is heavily constrained, because demand rises considerably,” he said. “This is especially bad at the peak times in the evening. People should therefore expect load shedding on Friday night.”
Meanwhile, Eskom warned its suppliers and partners to be on the lookout for fraudsters selling advertising in a bogus magazine, claiming that Eskom had endorsed the publication of a special edition.
The bogus advertising sellers claim they represent a specialist magazine called the Industrial World Business publication.
“The fraudsters’ modus operandi is to invite Eskom’s suppliers to advertise in a supposed specialist business magazine called Industrial World Business, falsely claiming and marketing that Eskom has endorsed the publication because it is going to be featured therein,” Eskom said.
“To this end, they use letters, faxes and e-mails bearing the Eskom logo and the forged signature of Eskom’s acting Chief Executive, Brian Molefe.
“Eskom wishes to alert its suppliers that this is not how it conducts its business and urges them to contact the Eskom Media Desk on 011 800 3304/43 or 082 805 7278 to verify the authenticity of any such requests for advertising and to check whether they have indeed been endorsed by Eskom or any of its officials.
“Suppliers can also contact the Eskom Crime Reporting Line on 0800 11 27 22 to report the crime.”
Cape Argus