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- SA’s power utility lost 32% of its capacity to breakdowns in 2023
- It’s the most energy lost to breakdowns in 14 years
- Unprotected strikes and operational issues contributed to capacity loss
Eskom’s ability to generate electricity in 2023 was significantly affected by breakdowns at its power plants. The power utility says these included electrical trips at generating units, outage ‘slips’ as well as boiler tube failures, which prevent the creation of steam to drive power-generating turbines.
Eskom CEO Calib Cassim said, however, that these were not the only causes of the 32% unplanned capacity loss. An unprotected employee strike in mid-2022 had a devastating effect on the system. The protest action, which fell within the 2022/23 financial year, was sparked by a failure in wage negotiations after the National Union of Mineworkers’ demanded a 15% increase.
Cassim has suggested that either deliberate sabotage or neglect of power stations during the stayaway exacerbated the coal-handling operations. Eskom had to pay R2.5-billion in overtime because of breakdowns at its power plants. This is an increase from the R2.1-billion paid in 2022.
— 9 April, 2024Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this
