Koeberg nuclear plant poses power problems for Namibia

NAMIBIA will soon have to deal with increased pressure to reduce its reliance on power from South Africa as the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant near Cape Town prepares to shut down its second unit for maintenance next month.

Already Unit One has been out of action since the end of last year. While it is well known that Namibia is hard-pressed to diversify its energy sources, trouble at Koeberg might provide the most tangible experience yet for Namibia of how urgent the power problem is.Top officials from South African power utility Eskom have already paid two visits to NamPower in the past month to discuss the implications of the Koeberg problems for Namibia.Problems with Koeberg’s Unit One during nearly every week of November plunged the Western Cape into darkness on more than one occasion and forced NamPower to fire up the Van Eck coal-powered station in Windhoek.Van Eck has been running regularly ever since, pushing up the cost of power supply as a result of having to import coal.The diesel generators at Walvis Bay’s Paratus Power Station have also had to be turned on intermittently in recent weeks.These are NamPower’s least-favoured power supply options because of the costs involved.Koeberg’s Unit One went out of action completely on Christmas Day and Eskom says repair work could take three months at the very least.NamPower Managing Director Leake Hangala said yesterday that the power utility had to rely more than ever on its domestic power sources in the event of South Africa not being able to meet Namibia’s demand.It could take up to September for Koeberg to complete maintenance on Unit Two.”I don’t want to say we are in a crisis,” Hangala said yesterday, “but there’s a major challenge facing us.”In the worst case scenario, NamPower could be forced to load-shed in future.This means that it would have to alternate the areas that would have to go without power for a certain period during peak hours.Namibia’s power demand is in the region of 500 megawatts.Hangala said NamPower was currently faced with having to import high-quality coal (which is what Van Eck requires), at high world prices and transport costs.”The production costs are higher than the selling price.There is no way we can sustain that,” said Hangala.”When you see that smoke [from Van Eck], you can see money going into the air.”Van Eck can generate a maximum of 120 megawatts.Water levels are currently very low, not allowing for much power generation from the Ruacana Hydropower station.The Western Cape is already preparing itself for outages once repair work begins at Koeberg’s second unit next month, which would see the whole station out of operation.According to the Eskom website, it could take at least three months, and probably longer, to repair the Unit One generator.Koeberg’s woes continued into the first week of the New Year when one of its reactors tripped and shut down because of a faulty transformer.In recent years, NamPower has only boosted its power supply from Van Eck during the winter months when demand is greater.The Koeberg power station is the only nuclear power plant in Africa, operating two 900-megawatt reactors.Besides Koeberg, the Cape is also supplied by power stations in the north of South Africa via its transmission network, which usually carries half the load to the Cape when both Koeberg units are online.Hangala said NamPower was working feverishly to implement its other medium- and long-term power options such as Kudu Gas and the Western Corridor project, which would link Namibia with SADC countries to share power resources.By the beginning of June, the Caprivi is expected to have a more reliable source of power through a transmission line from Zambia.While it is well known that Namibia is hard-pressed to diversify its energy sources, trouble at Koeberg might provide the most tangible experience yet for Namibia of how urgent the power problem is.Top officials from South African power utility Eskom have already paid two visits to NamPower in the past month to discuss the implications of the Koeberg problems for Namibia.Problems with Koeberg’s Unit One during nearly every week of November plunged the Western Cape into darkness on more than one occasion and forced NamPower to fire up the Van Eck coal-powered station in Windhoek.Van Eck has been running regularly ever since, pushing up the cost of power supply as a result of having to import coal.The diesel generators at Walvis Bay’s Paratus Power Station have also had to be turned on intermittently in recent weeks.These are NamPower’s least-favoured power supply options because of the costs involved.Koeberg’s Unit One went out of action completely on Christmas Day and Eskom says repair work could take three months at the very least.NamPower Managing Director Leake Hangala said yesterday that the power utility had to rely more than ever on its domestic power sources in the event of South Africa not being able to meet Namibia’s demand.It could take up to September for Koeberg to complete maintenance on Unit Two.”I don’t want to say we are in a crisis,” Hangala said yesterday, “but there’s a major challenge facing us.” In the worst case scenario, NamPower could be forced to load-shed in future.This means that it would have to alternate the areas that would have to go without power for a certain period during peak hours.Namibia’s power demand is in the region of 500 megawatts.Hangala said NamPower was currently faced with having to import high-quality coal (which is what Van Eck requires), at high world prices and transport costs.”The production costs are higher than the selling price.There is no way we can sustain that,” said Hangala.”When you see that smoke [from Van Eck], you can see money going into the air.”Van Eck can generate a maximum of 120 megawatts.Water levels are currently very low, not allowing for much power generation from the Ruacana Hydropower station.The Western Cape is already preparing itself for outages once repair work begins at Koeberg’s second unit next month, which would see the whole station out of operation.According to the Eskom website, it could take at least three months, and probably longer, to repair the Unit One generator.Koeberg’s woes continued into the first week of the New Year when one of its reactors tripped and shut down because of a faulty transformer.In recent years, NamPower has only boosted its power supply from Van Eck during the winter months when demand is greater.The Koeberg power station is the only nuclear power plant in Africa, operating two 900-megawatt reactors.Besides Koeberg, the Cape is also supplied by power stations in the north of South Africa via its transmission network, which usually carries half the load to the Cape when both Koeberg units are online.Hangala said NamPower was working feverishly to implement its other medium- and long-term power options such as Kudu Gas and the Western Corridor project, which would link Namibia with SADC countries to share power resources.By the beginning of June, the Caprivi is expected to have a more reliable source of power through a transmission line from Zambia.