A fireplace has broken unit 6 at Eskom’s ageing Kriel energy station in Mpumalanga. The incident was brought on by a burst oil pipe. Unit 6, considered one of six models on the 3GW Kriel station, produces 475MW of electrical energy.
In a press release, Eskom mentioned that at 5.04pm on Sunday night, unit 6 at Kriel tripped following the lack of hydraulic oil to the turbine valves. “A preliminary investigation revealed that an oil pipe had damaged, inflicting an oil spill on the recent surfaces of the turbine, which triggered a fireplace.”
The fireplace was reportedly shortly yextinguished.
Power skilled Anton Eberhard posted on X that he doesn’t imagine Kriel unit 6 can be repaired.
“Kriel energy unit 6 caught fireplace final evening – evidently from a burst oil pipe. I doubt it is going to be repaired,” Eberhard posted. “Kriel was commissioned in 1979 – 6 x 500MW. Eskom talks about extending the life of those previous energy stations however finally they take themselves offline.”
Eskom mentioned the incident is not going to outcome within the return of load shedding, which has been absent from South Africans’ lives since 26 March, or greater than 220 days. “With this unit briefly offline, complete unplanned outages stand at 8.5GW — nonetheless 4.5GW beneath the bottom case for summer season 2024.”
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On Friday, Eskom mentioned complete unplanned outages over the earlier seven days had declined to 9.5GW, a major enchancment on the 16GW of unplanned losses in the identical interval final 12 months.
“The discount in unplanned outages implies that extra technology capability is obtainable to satisfy the nation’s electrical energy demand. Moreover, it gives Eskom with the mandatory capability to conduct extra deliberate upkeep actions, that are essential for additional enhancing the reliability and stability of the technology fleet,” it mentioned.
Kriel energy unit 6 caught fireplace final evening – evidently from a burst oil pipe. I doubt it is going to be repaired. Kriel was commissioned in 1979 – 6 x 500MW. @Eskom_SA talks about extending the life of those previous energy stations however finally they take themselves offline. pic.twitter.com/V3tGtyOBYf
— Anton Eberhard (@AntonEberhard) November 4, 2024
The corporate additionally mentioned on Friday that South Africa ought to have sufficient technology capability for the following 5 years, offered the EAF maintains a mean of not less than 63%. It will assist financial progress of as much as 2.6%/12 months, Eskom’s system operator mentioned. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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