Unless there are more breakdowns, stage 6 load-shedding will be suspended at 05:00 on Friday. Stage 5 will then be implemented until 05:00 on Saturday.

That is according to the latest announcement by Eskom. However, this schedule is subject to change as the power grid is volatile and vulnerable to further breakdowns.

The higher-than-usual stages of power cuts are, according to Eskom, due to numerous generating units breaking down since Tuesday night.

At this stage, Saturday’s load-shedding forecast is uncertain.

#PowerAlert1

Stage 6 loadshedding will continue to be implemented until Friday morning at 05:00, whereafter it will be reduced to Stage 5 until Saturday morning. pic.twitter.com/MKf2jaXaCg

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 7, 2022

However, in a bid to help ‘stabilise’ the grid, Eskom has opted to delay the planned refuelling and maintenance outage of Koeberg unit one, which was scheduled to start today.

When the unit is taken offline – now expected to happen on Saturday – it will remain offline for around six months, Eskom says.

“While Eskom is ready to commence with the outage, with the contractors and all the
requisite resources on standby, grid stability is an important consideration prior to shutting down the unit one reactor to commence the maintenance and refuelling outage,” explains acting chief nuclear officer Sadika Touffie.

Touffie adds that they have ensured that no ‘undue’ delays will affect the ‘first-of-its-kind’ and ‘necessary’ Koeberg outage.

“The extended unavailability of the unit does mean the electricity supply system may be under additional strain during the outage. This will be the 26th refuelling outage on unit one since commissioning and will also see the replacement of the unit’s three steam generators as part of the long-term operation programme of the power station. The reactor pressure vessel head on this unit was replaced several years ago,” he says.

Eskom explains that refuelling can only be done every 15 to 18 months as the ‘the fuel at a nuclear power station is sealed inside a reactor vessel’.

“This is also a time when the station will perform certain required inspections on equipment and perform more intrusive maintenance that cannot be performed when the unit is online. The rigorous maintenance, inspection and testing programmes are some of the critical activities that ensure that the plant remains safe and able to deliver this reliable level of performance.”

• Koeberg’s units of 920MW each are the largest generating units on the African continent.
• The ‘safe and reliable operation’ of these units is crucial to meeting the country’s electricity demand.
• Eskom says Koeberg outages are ‘planned at times of the year when the impact on the overall electricity supply is minimised as far as possible’.