News Flash
- A fire broke out at Unit 2 at the Duvha power station in Mpumalanga this morning.
- Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, confirmed the incident and said the fire had been extinguished quickly and no injuries had been reported.
- The extent of the damage was still being assessed.
The unit has been offline for a general overhaul since January this year. “Eskom is currently investigating the root cause of the fire, and the extent of the damage and the possible return to service,” Mantshantsha said.
The station consists of six 600 MW units with a total installed capacity of 3,600 MW. On 8 January 2003, Unit 2 generator exploded while being returned to service after a malfunction. On 9 February 2011 another unit failed catastrophically while performing over speed testing.
Eskom has been plagued by acts of sabotage at some of its power generation plants. There have been a series of incidents over the last year that indicate a sinister force is at hand to derail Eskoms’ turnaround strategy. A total of nine employees at Eskom’s Medupi power station were suspended for procedural non-compliance following an explosion that took out a brand new generation unit in August 2021. Read more
Related news: Crime does not pay and we will get them in the end – Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
