The expert assessment of Eskom’s fleet of 14 coal-fired power stations commissioned by the National Treasury, against the background of its R254-billion debt relief package for Eskom announced in the 2023 Budget, and conducted by a VGBE-led consortium was released 1 March 2024. The report suggests that the current focus on improving the fleet’s energy availability factor (EAF) is limiting the deep maintenance and repair work required on the aging power plants, which is simply being deferred in favour of short-term fixes and compromising plant performance for the longer term.
The report proposes that this approach should be replaced immediately with a programme that allows for comprehensive outage and maintenance work to be done, even if that means higher levels of loadshedding for a limited period of time. It suggests further that by implementing prudent operation and maintenance practice, up to 6 000 MW of partial load losses could be recovered.
The assessment attributes the continuing low EAF (at 51%) to the complex, centrally controlled, generation management system which limits the decision-making space for power station managers and restricts their accountability. It recommends effective decentralisation to enable power station managers to take responsibility, act to optimise plant efficiencies and performance, manage power station budgets, and assume accountability accordingly.
The full report is available to download here from the National Treasury website.
Responding to the report, Eskom notes that it covers an assessment period from March to May 2023, coinciding with the inception of the utility’s Generation Operational Recovery Plan. Since then, significant developments have occurred, including the appointment of Bheki Nxumalo as the Generation Group Executive in mid-April 2023.
Eskom states that the Generation Operational Recovery Plan addresses various operational observations at power stations. These initiatives focus on improving people, plant and process performance. Regular progress updates are shared with the public every two weeks by the Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Eskom executives.
In October 2023, Eskom responded to VGBE and National Treasury outlining many of the improvements already made since the assessment period.
Nxumalo says, “We are thankful to the National Treasury for commissioning the report and for the debt relief, which has made funds available for much-needed capital to invest in planned maintenance, restore energy availability, and invest in other key projects across all divisions.”
Over the nine months since the assessment period, positive results have included the resolution of design-related issues at Medupi and Kusile power stations, which have been addressed through modifications. This has improved maintenance and operations, and significantly improved plant availability. This is evident in the much-improved performance at Medupi, which is now among Eskom’s most reliable power stations, following the modifications.
Furthermore, Eskom states, as of January 2024 a total of 3 510 MW was recovered through concerted efforts focusing on priority power stations. Each power station has its own detailed recovery plan, and these are centrally monitored to ensure successful implementation of the actions. The synchronisation of Kusile Unit 6 into the grid, the return of Medupi Unit 4 and Koeberg Unit 2 Long-Term Operation project are also on track. Combined, these three units will add 2 500 MW to the grid by year-end.
The Generation Operational Recovery Plan has, so far, arrested the decline of the energy availability factor (EAF). Eskom states that its objective remains to achieve an average of 65% in the month of March 2024 and an average of 70% in the month of March 2025. Notably, the Unplanned Capacity Loss factor (UCLF) also known as the unplanned outages, is on a positive trajectory, at 34% in January 2023, compared to 30% in January 2024.
In addition, as part of the Generation Operational Recovery Plan and a conscious decision to address issues of reliability at the power stations, Planned Capacity Loss Factor (planned maintenance) was increased during the summer period in 2023, to an average of 8 000 MW. The highest level of planned maintenance was performed between December 2023 and January 2024, reaching an average of 18% of the generation capacity.
These efforts have shown progress in stabilising the power system and enhancing energy availability.
The VGBE assessment report was released on the same day that new Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane, took the helm at Eskom.
For his first 100 days in office, the Eskom Board has instructed Marokane to assess the Generation Operation Recovery Plan with the view to accelerating its execution, to review the utility’s unbundling plans, and to engage with internal and external stakeholders.
Eskom has said it will attend to implementing the recommendations made by VGBE and will provide more detailed responses against technical areas of the report in due course.
For more information visit: www.eskom.co.za
