Page 7 - AfrElec Week 03 2022

AfrElec NUCLEAR AfrElec

for Eskom’s plan to extend the lifespan of the context of broader South African power strug-
power station by 20 years beyond its original gles. The damages resulting from the Medupi
shutdown date in 2024. Power Station explosion, which took out one of
“The durations for the less intensive outages the plant’s generators, could take up to two years
have typically been between 35 and 50 days, and to fix, said Yelland. While an extra unit may have
the more intrusive outages around 100 days in come on at Kusile Power Station, it still needs to
duration,” said Phidza. undergo testing and commissioning that will see
Once Unit 2 is back online, an outage of it going on and off continually for the next six
a similar duration will follow for Unit 1. The months to a year, he added.
extended unavailability of the units means that “So, if you take all of this into account, my
the electricity supply system may be under addi- analysis is that this year is going to be a more dif-
tional strain during the coming year, said Phidza. ficult year than last year — and last year was a
He said that load shedding was not planned, as record year for load shedding… and the previous
it was initiated only as a “last resort” to maintain year was a record that was only beaten by 2021,”
the balance between generating capacity and said Yelland.
demand. “I expect the energy availability factor of
Taking the two 920-MW units offline for a Eskom to continue its slow decline.”
cumulative stint of about 10 months will leave Phidza maintained that Koeberg’s units, as
South Africa with less power generation capacity the largest generating units on the African conti-
than it would normally have, and thus increase nent, provide a significant contribution to South
the risk of load shedding, according to Yelland. Africa’s electricity demand.
“It all depends on how the rest of the plant “The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is an
performs, but there is no sign that the rest of the important part of the Eskom generating fleet
plant is suddenly going to improve,” he said, add- due to its reliable operation, low primary energy
ing that in the short term, the deep-level main- costs, its strategic location in the Western Cape
tenance is likely to worsen the power generation to stabilise the national electricity grid and
situation. the fact that it is a clean source of energy,” said
The outage also needs to be understood in the Phidza.™

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