DURBAN – Eskom is hopeful that despite the vulnerability and volatility of the power system, the risk of load shedding could significantly be reduced after the completion of the reliability maintenance by September 2021.
According to Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer, the unreliability of the ageing fleet, with an uncertainty of about 6 000MW of capacity at any given time, will remain until the reliability maintenance programme is able to address the historical maintenance backlog.
"Recovering the operational performance is our top priority and we will not compromise on reliability maintenance and mid-life refurbishment," he said.
Earlier today, Eskom management hosted a system status briefing where group chief executive André de Ruyter admitted the state-owned enterprise (SOE) had much to do to reach optimal performance.
"While there is an improvement on some of aspects of the generation plant due to concerted efforts by Eskom employees, we are not where we want to be in terms of performance. The ultimate aim is to improve performance to reduce the risk of load shedding. The enormity of this task cannot be overstated," he said.
He said despite the initial challenges posed by the national lockdown, high levels of maintenance had been sustained with planned maintenance gradually increasing to between 5 500MW and 7 000MW or approximately 12%.
He said Eskom was making notable progress in the recovery of its operational performance, with the implementation of the Generation Recovery Programme (9-Point Plan) and reliability maintenance recovery (RMR) programme beginning to yield the desired outcome.
De Ruyter explained that owing to the 9-Point Plan, which placed correcting new build defects top of the list, the availability and reliability of the synchronised units at Medupi are showing steady improvement.
"Major defects at Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme have been addressed, resulting in each of the four units performing at the full capacity of 331MW since February 2021, from a maximum 245MW previously. Coal stock levels continue to improve, with average coal stock at 52 days by the end of February, excluding Medupi and Kusile. There is no power station below the Grid Code minimum requirement of 20 days," he said.
He added that the resilience of the power system during heavy rains and the cyclone storm Eloise was a clear indication that the significant investment in the wet coal management strategy is paying dividends.
"While there also has been significant progress in the reduction of emissions across the Generation fleet, the new minimum emissions standards now in effect, mean there is a lot work still to be done to fully meet compliance levels. This is because some of the electrostatic precipitators on the older facilities are incapable of meeting the new minimum emissions standards," De Ruyter said.
He said the Build Programme was progressing well, with Kusile Unit 2 having successfully achieved commercial operation in October last year, adding 720MW to the national grid. Kusile Unit 3 and Medupi Unit 1 are on track to achieve commercial operation during the next few weeks and months.
The addition of Medupi 1 to the grid will bring the number of units in commercial operation at the power station to six, signalling the completion of the construction project.
"The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station continues to operate efficiently and within the required safety parameters, and at the lowest primary energy cost of baseload stations.
“While Unit 1 is currently on a refuelling and maintenance outage, Unit 2 is safely generating electricity to the grid," De Ruyter said.
Transmission network performance had seen a marked improvement. However, ongoing theft and vandalism of infrastructure continues to impact operations, greatly increasing the risk of power supply interruptions to customers.
Distribution was also prone to criminal activities and, to mitigate this, Eskom was embarking on several security enhancement projects and was also working closely with the law enforcement agencies. Network overloading remained an area of great concern.
To protect electricity infrastructure in certain high-density areas associated with high illegal connections, Eskom continued to implement load reduction during peak times.
"On the people side, critical vacancies at some of the power stations have been filled. There is currently only one vacant general manager position as a result of death in service and the process to fill this vacancy alongside that of the group executive for generation is under way. Eskom has recorded a cumulative 4 190 Covid-19 cases, including employees and contractors, (as of) March 3. Sadly, we have lost 104 employees and contractors to the pandemic. We extend our sincere condolences to the affected families and relatives," he said.
IOL