The board at State-owned electricity utility Eskom has sanctioned a proposal to migrate the group’s unreliable coal fleet to a ‘philosophy maintenance’ model, whereby generation units are serviced in strict adherence with prescribed maintenance schedules in a bid to break the cycle of unplanned breakdowns. CEO Andre de Ruyter said on Friday that the model – which was approved during the board’s January 29 meeting and which had also been canvassed with Eskom’s shareholder – would increase the risk of load-shedding for the coming 18 months at least, but would also improve the longer-term performance of the fleet.
