Johannesburg – Eskom is so far behind with its maintenance that growing instability of its power stations is becoming a serious threat to the country, Die Burger reported on Monday.
The pace of maintenance will increase during the coming summer months and will lead to regular load shedding, Eskom said last week.
Non-official sources, however, are warning that the danger of a total collapse of power stations is becoming bigger.
The availability of power stations have been 75% so far this year, because of unplanned faults. Eskom hopes to be able to increase it to 77% for the rest of the year, said Dr Steve Lennon, head of sustainability at Eskom.
“It is supposed to be more than 85% to be operated safely, said a reliable Eskom source.
An engineering consultant, who has been doing investigations at a number of the 13 coal powered stations since the beginning of the year, said the seriousness of the backlog in maintenance is shocking and greatly underestimated.
The explosion at the Duvha power station on March 30 this year is, according to him, an indication of what is to come…
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