The threat of more serious load shedding comes as the Prince of Darkness, the CEO of power “utility” (we are giggling as we use this word) Eskom (read: Eksdom), announced that Koeberg’s Unit 2 of South Africa’s sole nuclear power plant will be shut down for three months from the end of August. Apparently this is part of a “routine refuelling and maintenance” plan.
Reuters reports Koeberg has two units and provides over 3,000 megawatts of power to the grid. The shutdown will dramatically increase the chances of load shedding as the grid struggles to provide enough power for the country.
In February, unit 1 of Koeberg was shut down for a similar period, resulting in the loss of half the output at the nuclear power plant.
Reuters describes South Africa’s economy as “Africa’s most advanced” and says it is facing its worst electricity crisis since 2008. We thought that crises of 2008 was merely ongoing. All we know is that the country’s citizens are subjected to frequent blackouts in an attempt to prevent the entire grid from collapsing.
