Eskom happy with maintenance progress

Johannesburg - Eskom has performed more planned maintenance over the long-weekend, surpassing the first phase of the weekend maintenance it had performed previously, Eskom said late Sunday afternoon.

Eskom said its maintenance teams worked hard over the long-weekend and were able to perform maintenance on 2 608 MW of generating plant. It also returned 2 304 MW of generating capacity back to service over this period.

This is an improvement from last weekend’s maintenance where technicians carried out planned maintenance on 2 303 MW of Eskom's generating plant, returning 1 453 MW back to service over that period.

READ: Eskom to implement load shedding

The generating units that were taken out for scheduled maintenance this past long-weekend included Duvha Unit 2 (575 MW), Hendrina Unit 6 (190 MW), Komati Unit 9 (114 MW), Kriel Unit 6 (475 MW), Majuba Unit 6 (669 MW) and Tutuka Unit 4 (585MW).
 
The units that have been returned back online are Duvha Unit 2 (575 MW), Majuba Unit 6 (669 MW), Kriel Unit 5 (475MW) and Tutuka Unit 4 (585MW).

“Going forward, we plan to continue with our maintenance drive in an effort to close in on the backlog that has accumulated over the years due to the 'keeping the lights on' commitment. We appeal to electricity users once more to continue using electricity sparingly in order to allow us enough room to continue with the requisite maintenance so that in the long run our power stations can perform more efficiently,” said acting Eskom CEO Brian Molefe.

Eskom needs a minimum of 3 000 MW and maximum of 5 000 MW buffer either through supply-side or demand-side options in order to close the maintenance backlog and avoid load shedding.

Eskokm said residential customers can make the biggest difference as demand increases mainly in the evenings.

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