The Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has expressed concerns about boiler tube leaks in Eskom’s coal-fired power stations, which are causing disruptions in electricity generation. Eskom recently had to implement Stage 6 load shedding due to high demand caused by extreme weather conditions, including freezing temperatures.
Ramokgopa emphasized that the boiler tube leaks are the main cause of unplanned power outages in all the power stations. He mentioned that the issue could be related to the quality of coal used. Efforts are being made to address the problem by involving Eskom’s technical team and seeking assistance from universities with expertise in this area.
Although there has been some progress in stabilizing the electricity grid over the past three weeks, last week saw a reversal of those positive trends due to the vulnerability of the grid to such problems. Ramokgopa apologized for the extensive load shedding during the extremely cold weather and stated that it should not become the norm, especially going beyond Stage 4.
Fortunately, Eskom announced a reduction in load shedding to Stages 1 and 3, as several generating units were restored over the weekend. However, some breakdowns and delayed maintenance are still contributing to capacity constraints. The demand for electricity is expected to increase again due to another predicted cold snap and wet weather in Gauteng from Thursday onwards.
Eskom head of generation Bheki Nxumalo said the surge in demand of 3 000MW last week due to cold weather had coincided with boiler tube leaks and resulted in exhaustive usage of pump storage and open-cycle gas turbines to keep the lights on.
“That day they ran a bit longer which then resulted in them not getting enough time to replenish, coupled with a number of tube leaks that we have at multiple stations. That is what caused us to increase the stages on Wednesday just to make sure that the system operator still maintains good reserves,” Nxumalo said.
