From midnight on April 3, power utility Eskom will take Unit 2 of the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, off line.

The unit is scheduled to return to service by April 30, if not required before then.

Eskom has taken the decision to take certain generation units off line to protect the integrity of the national power network, amid low demand, as a result of the 21-day national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.

With the Covid-19 national lockdown in full effect, the utility Eskom has experienced a 7 500 MW to 9 000 MW reduction in demand for electricity since the lockdown came into effect on March 27.

This has enabled the power utility to operate without the need to implement load-shedding, and is also giving Eskom an opportunity to carry out important short-term maintenance of its generation infrastructure.

Subsequently, Eskom has increased planned maintenance to 9 032 MW, while unplanned outages or breakdowns have been reduced to 8 572 MW as at 16:10 on April 1.

This compares to planned maintenance being undertaken on about 4 256 MW on March 25, while the majority of business and industry was still in operation. In addition, at the same time, unplanned outages or breakdowns resulted in 12 175 MW of lost capacity.