Eskom, the state-owned power company in South Africa, will stagger the shutdown of its Koeberg nuclear facility from Monday for scheduled refuelling and maintenance, adding stress to an already overburdened energy system.
As part of the planned outages, Eskom said it would shut down Unit 2 starting Monday for five months, then Unit 1 for a similar period afterwards. These two units produce 920 megawatts each.
Africa’s most industrialised nation has been afflicted by power blackouts for years due to Eskom’s ailing fleet of coal-fueled power stations. Consequently, the maintenance work could worsen a problem that has been ongoing for years.
During the coming year, the electricity supply system may be put under additional strain due to the extended unavailability of the units caused by the planned long outages, the statement said.
Earlier last year, Eskom had to implement scheduled power cuts due to a maintenance issue at Koeberg, caused by a rising leak rate in one of its steam generators.
