Eskom maintenance drive continues

The report was tabled by the company’s acting chief executive Brian Molefe who said the public power entity was making steady progress in reducing its maintenance backlog, and that in most cases, it has been able to perform the requisite plant maintenance without load shedding.

“Despite a constrained and ageing power system, the company still continues to provide more than 96 percent of the country’s electricity requirements, even when load shedding is at stage 2,” Molefe said.

According to the statement, since December last year, the availability of Eskom’s plant performance has improved from 65 to 75 percent.

“Going forward, we plan to continue with our maintenance programme in an effort to reduce the backlog that has accumulated over the past few years. Most importantly, we plan to execute the maintenance drive without having to implement load shedding,” Molefe stated.

Eskom has consistently warned the public that the power system is expected to remain constrained for the next two years, and that balancing supply and demand during this period would be particularly difficult.

According to the company, more than 64 percent of Eskom’s power stations are in their mid-life and require more preventative maintenance in order to improve their performance and ensure their safety. However, over the past few years, a backlog of maintenance outages had developed, and Eskom has identified it as a priority to reduce the backlog as well as keep up with the maintenance schedule.

Molefe also urged all electricity users to do so sparingly in order to allow Eskom enough space to continue with the requisite maintenance. As has been the case since winter of 2013, some generation maintenance will continue to be done throughout the winter period to assist in ensuring a sustainable generation fleet, he said.

While there is expected to be sufficient power to meet demand for most parts of the day, in winter the load increases could be up to 36 000 megawatts, particularly over the short, sharp evening peak between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.

“The increase is predominantly due to the use of electric heaters and geysers and cooking that takes place during this time,” Eskom statement read.

In an effort to ensure that Eskom will be able to meet future electricity requirements, the company is currently undertaking a R280-billion capital expenditure programme over five years. In total, over 1 500MW new generating capacity will be added to the national grid by the end of this current financial year.