Good news about load-shedding in South Africa

Following major shortfalls in energy capacity resulting in four bouts of load-shedding this year, Eskom expects to have the entire Kusile Power Station and Koeberg Power Station’s Unit 1 up and running in the next few months.

This is according to Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena, who said the state utility ramped up its maintenance plan in recent months to prepare its generation fleet for winter.

This resulted in Eskom taking several power station units offline.

“We’ve got a very reliable 970 MW unit at Koeberg that has been off since January for planned maintenance, refuelling, and to comply with the regulations for the long-term operation of that unit,” Mokwena told Newzroom Afrika.

In August last year, the National Nuclear Regulator granted Koeberg’s Unit 1 a licence to continue operating for another 20 years, meaning it can run until July 2044.

“The other dilemma came after we took Kusile unit three offline in January. This followed three units going offline at Kusile after we had an issue with the flu gas desulphurisation technology,” Mokwena explained.

“However, all the units will be back in June, and Koeberg Unit 1 will return in July.”

This means that Kusile will operate at a full capacity of 4,800 MW for the first time, eight years after the project’s initial deadline.

Kusile Units 1, 2, and 3 were all taken offline at the end of 2022 due to the collapse of part of a flue duct.

Faulty emission control systems and human errors caused a cement-like deposit in the flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) duct, causing part of the chimney-like structure to collapse.

To continue using the units, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) granted Eskom an exception as not having the FDG duct significantly increased carbon emissions.

This meant the units were returned online in late 2023 but taken offline again about a year later for permanent repairs to be done to the FDG ducts.

“We had agreed with the minister of the DFFE that we would repair the FGD ducts by the end of March and return those units back into their original stacks,” said Mokwena.

Although all six of Kusile’s units will operate starting in June, Mokwena said the newly synchronised Unit 6 will not constantly provide its 800MW capacity for at least six months.

This is because Eskom needs to conduct on-load grid compliance testing, which will start this Sunday. Mokwena explained the unit will only be providing capacity “every now and then.”

“The most expensive coal-fired power station ever built”

Construction on Kusile began in August 2008, a few months after Hitachi Power Africa was awarded the boiler contract worth R18.5 billion and Alstom S&E the turbine island works contract worth R13 billion.

It also followed South Africans’ introduction to the rolling blackouts that became known as load-shedding.

However, inefficient project management, labour disputes, vandalism, and corruption contributed to numerous delays, and by 2017, all Eskom had to show for it was Unit 1 achieving commercial operation.

Eskom synchronised Unit 2 to the national grid a few months later, but it would be more than three years before it reached commercial operation. Unit 3 began commercial operation in early 2021, followed by Unit 4 in 2022, and Unit 5 in 2023.

While Sunday’s onboarding of Unit 6 onto the national marked a significant milestone in the project’s journey to hopefully becoming a reliable part of South Africa’s generation fleet, energy expert Chris Yelland pointed to the reality of the situation.

“Considering the capital cost overruns at Kusile, the increased capitalised interest during delayed construction, and the cost to SA businesses due to increased load-shedding following delays, I think this would make Kusile the most expensive coal-fired power station built in mankind’s history,” he said.