The recovery programme at the Majuba power station is “proceeding well” and has “far exceeded” Eskom’s expectations. Capacity at the power station, where a coal silo collapsed at the weekend, was now at 1,4GW and the risk of blackouts had been reduced, the power utility said.
“More units from Majuba are due to be synchronised to the grid later today [Wednesday] with the potential of increasing generating capacity to 3,2GW,” the power utility said in a statement.
“Teams are working 24/7 moving coal from stock piles to the conveyer belts which are the link to the generating units.”
Eskom said the system would remain constrained through Thursday.
“Our projections indicate similar constraints next week. As such, Eskom appeals to consumers to reduce their electricity usage throughout the day, but especially from 6pm to 10pm.”
Earlier, Eskom said the power system was tight but manageable with no rolling blackouts expected.
“No load shedding is expected as things stand,” spokesman Andrew Etzinger said. “We are taking this week one day at a time, so no guarantees for tomorrow at this stage.”
A coal storage silo which stored over 10 000 tons of coal at the Majuba power station in Mpumalanga collapsed on Saturday, affecting coal supplies to all six units at the power station.
On Tuesday, trade union Solidarity said the silo had been showing signs of stress since January and Eskom had done nothing to correct the problem.
Etzinger said the silo was inspected last year.
Before the collapse, Majuba supplied 3,6GW, roughly 10% of the country’s electricity capacity, Etzinger said on Sunday. — Sapa
