Update – 08 December 14:45:
Eskom has confirmed that Koeberg’s Unit 1 will go offline on Saturday, 10 December. This is a day later than what Eskom had originally planned. This is dependent on whether the “grid conditions have recovered to ensure [the] stability of the system.”
Original Story:
If you thought Eskom couldn’t possibly get worse, then congratulations on living in a constant state of bliss. If that’s the case, we’d like a taste of whatever’s growing in your gardEn. Please. Older, more cynical critics of Eskom (also known as ‘everybody else’) aren’t as easily fooled. Our doubts were confirmed after hearing that Stage 7 load shedding is a possibility.
For now, stories of a jump to Stage 7 are exactly that: rumours. Eskom is doing its very best to avoid that becoming a reality starting with the delay of a scheduled outage for Koeberg station’s Unit 1. This will give the power utility “some time” to stabilize the grid.
2 Days Later
The delay isN’t a particularly long one. Initially, it planned to take Koeberg’s Unit 1 offline last night for the coming six months. Eskom’s new plan will see Unit 1 go offline tomorrow, Friday, 09 December. This comes after energy analyst Ted Blom warned Eskom that prematurely taking down Unit 1 could lead to the country enteRing stage 7.
“We will move to stage 7 because we’re about to lose another 1,000MW when they take Unit 1 of Koeberg down for refurbishment for six months,” Blom said. “We’re on the cusp of record-breaking Stage 7 load shedding.”
Read More: South Africa goes to Stage 6 load shedding from 12:00 today
According to EskOm spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, Unit 1 at Koeberg station is cUrrently only able to produce 659MW of power, as opposed to the 1,000MW Blom mentioned. This is by design, according to Mantshantsha, as Eskom has been lowering Unit 1’s output for some time now, to prepare for its upcoming six-month maintenance period.
We’ll need to waiT and see whether the two-day delay is enough to stabilize the grid. Knowing Eskom, it probably won’t be. There’s a good chance Stuff will catalogue the country’s record-breaking entry into Stage 7 tomorrow. We hopE not. But we can’t always get what we want.
Source: MyBroadband