S. Africa's power crisis worsens due to faulty nuclear plant
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E-mail Xinhua, March 10, 2020
CAPE TOWN, March 10 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's power crisis worsened on Tuesday due to a fault at the Koeberg nuclear power plant, authorities said.
Koeberg Unit One has been disconnected from the national grid due to a fault on the turbine side, electricity utility Eskom said.
"However, the nuclear reactor remains safe," Eskom said.
Located 30 km north of Cape Town, Koeberg is currently the only nuclear power plant on the entire African continent.
Eskom said its teams are investigating the root causes of the fault, and will advise of the remedy as soon as it is established.
The loss of approximately 930MW unit puts further strain on the generation fleet, necessitating an increase in the stage of load shedding, said Eskom.
As a result, load shedding went up from stage two to stage four, said Eskom, which provides more than 95 percent of the electricity consumed in the country.
Stage two load shedding allows up to 2,000 MW to be shed, while stage four calls for 4,000 MW to be rotationally cut off.
Staggering under poor management and alleged corruption, state-run Eskom began to implement a new round of load shedding on Monday after several of its units broke down.
"As the ageing fleet is currently constrained, unpredictable and vulnerable, we advise South Africans that the stage of load shedding may change at short notice should there be any unexpected change in the generation system performance," Eskom said in a statement.
Demand has also risen incrementally since January, added Eskom.
"It is only through partnership between Eskom and all stakeholders that we may soon emerge from these difficult times," the utility said.
It urged every South African to cooperate in managing electricity consumption with care to help it minimises load shedding.
South Africa has suffered from electricity insufficiency for more than a decade, with power blackouts having become increasingly frequent in recent months.
Eskom implements load shedding as a last resort to prevent the national grid from total collapse. Enditem
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