Eskom maintenance progressing well
Eskom’s plant maintenance programme is progressing well, with a few power generating units that had been taken off-line over the weekend expected to be synchronised to the national grid.
“We are implementing appropriate levels of planned maintenance in line with the generation sustainability strategy to ensure long-term plant health,” Eskom said in a statement on Sunday.
This had resulted in an improvement in unplanned maintenance and the number of plant breakdowns over the past three months, positively impacting plant availability.
“In terms of our existing generation sustainability strategy, our aim is to achieve 80 percent plant availability, 10 percent planned maintenance, and 10 percent unplanned maintenance over the medium-term.”
The adherence to regular scheduled maintenance was set to limit unplanned maintenance to below 7500MW in summer and 5500MW in winter.
“Meanwhile, Eskom and Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) from Mozambique will from tomorrow, Monday 16 November 2015, undertake planned maintenance on the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric scheme. This routine maintenance will reduce South Africa’s imports from Cahora Bassa by 650MW for the whole week.
“Customers are urged to use electricity sparingly at all times as the power system will become