Ramokgopa: Koeberg’s unit 1 performing at 100%
Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says there has been an improvement in the performance of unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station.
The unit, which generates 920MW, was taken out of commission in December 2022 for maintenance.
It was brought back online in November last year.
Briefing the media on the electricity crisis on Tuesday, Ramokgopa said unit 1 is operating at 100% power.
"One of the main achievements that are underestimated is the fact that, as a result of the work that the team has done, we have been able to exploit an additional output of 27MW, which is significant.
"This means that we are now producing 27MW more than what was being produced before by this unit".
Ramokgopa also said the government has developed a plan to mitigate the impact of Eskom’s breach of its license requirements on sulphur emissions.
Eskom was granted an exemption to run Kusile power station without having to meet minimum emissions standards for sulphur dioxide until 31 March 2025
Ramokgopa said a plan had been put in place following his meeting with the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe.
"Whilst we accept that we are not meeting this license parameters on the sulfur side, there is a plan to ensure that we are able to deal with the adverse impacts of us not meeting those license parameters," he said.
The embattled power utility implemented stages 1 and 2 on Tuesday.
These stages of load shedding will be in place until further notice.
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