South Africa: Electricity Minister Ramokgopa 'Extremely Upset' Over Delays At Koeberg

GovernmentZA / Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Minister in the Presidency responsible for electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa gives an update on his visits to Eskom power stations between March 20 to 31, 2023.
23 July 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Julia Evans

After visiting Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said he was 'worried and also extremely upset' about delays in getting the power plant's Unit 1 back online.

Speaking at a media briefing on Sunday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said it "should worry us" that Koeberg's Unit 1 was still not operational after it was taken offline in December 2022 for planned maintenance, refuelling and life-extension works in preparation for its 20-year extension.

The unit at the nuclear power station was meant to return to service 71 days ago and Ramokgopa said the delay was concerning as it left the national grid short of 920 megawatts (MW) of power, equivalent to nearly one stage of load shedding.

Reiterating that "every megawatt counts", Ramokgopa said the delay in getting Unit 1 operational also "presents the real danger of the overlap between the delayed return of Unit 1 and also the taking out of Unit 2". Unit 2, which also generates 920MW, is scheduled to go offline for refurbishment in September, although some believe that could be pushed to mid-October.

The steam generators in both units need to be replaced after the government decided to keep Koeberg running instead of shutting it down, as previously planned.

Electrical engineer and energy analyst Chris Yelland explained to Daily Maverick that if Unit 1 came back online this month, as it was meant...

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