- Eskom recently confirmed that a fire broke out and damaged generation unit 5 that is still under construction at Kusile Coal Power Station last month.
- The fire occurred at a gas air heater on 17 September at unit which is in commissioning process phase.
- This is not the first fire incident at the utility, in August 2018 a fire broke out at the fabric filter plant causing extensive damage.
The power utility said that while its fire protection systems extinguished the fire, inspections showed “significant damage”. Eskom said it was still in the process of inspecting the damage for repair works plus what caused the fire.
Yesterday, Eskom’s chief operating officer, Jan Oberholzer, told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the fire would set back Eskom’s work on the unit by a year.
“Unfortunately, I have to be open; unit number five will not be placed in commercial operation in December of 2023,” Oberholzer said, adding that they don’t believe that there was any foul play involved.
Related news: R30 billion needed to complete Kusile and Medupi power stations
Oberholzer said the incident is projected to cost Eskom R150 million per month, which is related to the delays in getting the nearly 800MW unit online much later than expected.
He reassured that the sixth and final generation unit is still on track to come online in the middle of 2024.
Both Kusile and Medupi coal fired power stations are plagued by design faults, project mismanagement and corruption which has caused massive overruns in commissioning lead times and budget. Read more
Last year in August, a massive hydrogen explosion took out a unit at Medupi Power Station. Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
