Eskom looks at breathing new life into ageing fleet

THE Eskom board has given the go-ahead for the power utility to begin a pre-feasibility study into options for extending the lifespans of five of its oldest power stations — Komati, Camden, Hendrina, Kriel and Arnot. The study was expected to take about 18 months to complete, the board said. An Eskom spokesman said yesterday that there was no budget for life extensions.

THE board of Eskom has given the go-ahead for the power utility to begin a pre-feasibility study into options for extending the lifespans of five of its oldest power stations — Komati, Camden, Hendrina, Kriel and Arnot.

The study was expected to take about 18 months to complete, the board said.

Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said yesterday that there was no amount budgeted for life extensions for these power stations, as the costs would be assessed as part of the feasibility study.

The original plan under Eskom’s former CEO Brian Dames was to start decommissioning 10,000MW of power from ageing power stations from 2020, as the new Medupi and Kusile plants were due to be at full capacity by then, and would together contribute 9,600MW to the national grid.

But the cost of Medupi and Kusile has ballooned to more than R300bn and they are running several years behind schedule.

The cost of extending the lives of existing power stations could be considerably less than building new ones, if the feasibility studies found that this was technically possible.

However, the cost of bringing old coal-fired power stations into

The cost of extending the lives of existing power stations could be considerably less than building new ones … if technically possible

line with the emissions standards in the Air Quality Act, from which Eskom has already been granted postponements, would add significantly to the bill.

Eskom said to avoid load shedding, it needed to consider a fleetrenewal strategy in addition to normal maintenance. The board had approved a strategy to consider renewal based on economic viability rather than simply on the age of power stations.

According to Eskom’s website, Arnot, with an installed capacity of 2,100MW, is 31 years old; Hendrina is 45 years and has a capacity of 2,000MW; and the 1,000MW Komati’s first unit is 55 years old.

Komati was mothballed in the 1980s, but brought back into service in the 2000s. Camden, which is 49 years old, was mothballed in 1990 and brought back into service in 2003 at a cost of R5.9bn. Its capacity is about 1,600MW. Kriel, which is 36 years old, has an installed capacity of 2,850MW.

Eskom said that economic viability would be determined by comparing fleet-renewal costs with primary energy costs and the running costs of a rejuvenated station.

The main aspects to be considered in extending the life of the power stations was their continued reliability, legal aspects such as safety and the environment, regulatory requirements and reducing the cost of coal in line with the determinations made by the National Energy Regulator of SA.