Eskom’s maintenance drive a success

Eskom has successfully performed the first part of its planned maintenance drive without load shedding since 24 April.

Plans are in place to continue with the drive this coming weekend.

Their maintenance teams worked hard over the long weekend and were able to perform planned maintenance on 2 303MW of generating plant.

They further, also returned 1 643MW of generating capacity back to service over this period.

“The focus of the maintenance festival is to ensure long-term reliability of the plant, as well as restore units that are currently offline due to technical faults,” acting chief executive, Mr Brian Molefe, said.

The generating units that were taken out for scheduled maintenance include Komati Unit 4 (91MW); Ankerlig Unit 41 (147MW); Kriel Unit 5 (475MW); Kendal Unit 1 (640MW); Camden Unit 2 (190MW); Camden Unit 3 (185MW); and Matla Unit 4 (575MW).

The units that have been returned back online are Komati Unit 4 (91MW); Camden Unit 2 (190MW); Ankerlig Unit 41 (147MW); Kendal Unit 1 (640MW) and Matla Unit 4 (575MW).

The power system continues to remain constrained and will be so for the rest of this week.

Eskom are currently not load shedding, but the power system remains tight all day, particularly during the peak period between 5pm and 9pm as the power system demand profile moves towards a more typical winter profile.

“We thank all electricity users for responding to our message to save, every little bit of saving counts in reducing the need to implement load shedding,” Mr Molefe also said.

They called on all customers to continue reducing the load on the electricity grid by switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand.