Eskom’s generation group executive, Bheki Nxumalo, is set to replace former chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, in terms of support to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, the power utility said.
“The generation group executive, as the appointed executive, a qualified engineer with vast experience in generation, leadership and project management skills, is responsible to oversee all operations in generation including all projects,” said Eskom.
This after the power utility this week announced it would be parting ways with Oberholzer, who had been on a fixed-term contract to provide support to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station’s long-term operation, and to Kusile Power Station projects.
Oberholzer has been vocal about concern over Koeberg’s units.
Energy expert Ruse Moleshe said that Koeberg Unit 1 was undergoing an equipment improvement outage to replace steam generators and extend the operational life of the plant – from the original 40 years to 60 years.
“The Minister of Electricity indicated through one of his briefing sessions that there is likely to be a delay in bringing the plant back to operation.
Koeberg Unit 2 is scheduled to start its own equipment improvement and 20-year life extension process by September 2023.
“A delay in bringing back Unit 1 will affect the supply of electricity in the country, as both units will be off at the same time. Thus total capacity of over 1900 MW will be unavailable – almost 2 stages of load shedding. The gap in electricity supply is met through the use of diesel and pumped storage.
“Diesel is expensive and not a sustainable option.The Koeberg power plant has been providing reliable, relatively cheaper and cleaner baseload electricity. Thus helping to avoid expensive and unsustainable diesel consumption.
“If the Koeberg units are not brought back online in line with the schedule, the supply constraints and costs will be exacerbated, which will negatively impact consumers through load shedding and cost of electricity (tariff increases),” she said.
Energy activist Peter Becker said: “It is time to take a careful and thorough look at the economics of what is going on at Koeberg.
“All these delays means we will have to learn to do without Koeberg at least for a while, so perhaps it is not actually needed in the long term.”
With the unknown number of billions Eskom is set to spend trying to complete the refurbishment, there may be better way for that money to be spent, such as on strengthening the national grid.”
Cape Times