Koeberg Unit 2 was shut down for its 20th refuelling outage on 24 March 2014, having been online for 484 days since 25 November 2012. This bettered Unit 1’s record of 454 days of uninterrupted operation set between June 2000 and September 2001. This is also the first time in Koeberg’s history that one […]
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), has launched Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa (MHPSA) in South Africa. The South African business of Hitachi Power Africa (HPA), primarily the Medupi and Kusile power station projects, has been transferred to MHPSA. This is as a consequence of the conclusion […]
A leak in a boiler pipe at Eskom’s Duvha power station on 30 March 2014 has resulted in the loss one of its 600 MW generators. This is the same power station which suffered a conveyor belt failure in December 2013, depriving the boilers of coal, with a subsequent loss of generation output, which forced […]
Eustace Davie, speaking at a media briefing at the Free Market Foundation recently, said that the IRP 2010 – 2030 update plan heralds a potential disaster and an exercise in speculative central planning. He says that the key problems are a lack of an independent transmission grid, no independent distribution grids, no competing generating […]
We bid farewell to Brian Dames, the outgoing CEO of Eskom, after his last day at the utility yesterday. With the earlier departure of former Eskom financial director, Paul O’Flaherty, and head of communications, Hilary Joffe, this signals the end of an era – short though it was, at about four years. While Dames’ departure […]
by Roger Lilley, editor Energize spoke to Prince Moyo, the general manager for power delivery engineering at Eskom about the utility’s ageing generation fleet, about his opinion regarding the feasibility, and pros and cons, of power station refurbishment versus new build. As we enter the second quarter of 2014, the fulfillment of the promise of […]
Eskom has appointed Collin Matjila as acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 April 2014. The former CEO, Brian Dames, left the company on 31 March 2014, after a career spanning 26 years. The new acting CEO, Matjila, is currently a member of the Eskom board and is the former chairman of […]
Eskom been downplaying and minimising the possibility of load shedding since the blackouts of 2008. Only a week ago, Eskom CEO Brian Dames told the assembled media that Eskom had the power system in South Africa fully under control. Yesterday, however, Eskom pulled the plug on the country and commenced with rotational load-shedding of domestic, […]
by Terry Mackenzie-Hoy, University of Witwatersrand What happens in dealing with the intermittent input from wind turbines? It is not too much of a problem at present with the relatively small wind generation programme planned. Beyond that, there could be problems. Potentially one has an unpredictable power swings of about 1485 MW (wind) and predicable […]
Eskom’s Kusile power station, which is currently under construction near Emalahleni (Witbank) in Mpumalanga province, has been awarded first prize in the 2013 Be Inspired competition, in the Innovation in Power Generation category for the innovative development and use of a 3D Plant Operating & Maintenance (O&M) Simulator. The O&M Simulator was created on 3D-Pact […]
