Eskom warns of ‘tight’ power system
State-owned power utility Eskom on Monday reiterated that the national power system would be “particularly tight” over the next two weeks, owing to a high number of generating units being shut down for unplanned and planned maintenance.
Current planned maintenance stood at 5 700 MW, while unplanned outages reached 5 800 MW, the utility said in an update on the state of the power system.
Eskom said 31 200 MW capacity was available to meet Monday’s peak demand of 30 934 MW.
This included supply from the costly open-cycle gas turbines, which were currently being used for longer-than-intended periods to reduce pressure on the national grid.
The operation of the gas turbines, which were usually only run over peak periods, had also impacted the supply of diesel fuel for the turbines.
Eskom last week also warned of the tight power system after having to shut down Unit 1 of its Koeberg nuclear power station for scheduled refuelling, inspection and maintenance. The shutdown would continue for about seven weeks.
Eskom expected peak demand to reach 30 888 MW on Tuesday, 31 073 MW on Wednesday, 30 897 MW on Thursday, 30 287 MW on Friday, 29 167 MW on Saturday and 28 476 MW on Sunday.
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