ESKOM confirmed that on July 22, at around 7:50am, a fire outbreak started at Grootvlei Power Station Unit 2. Within an hour, the fire was confined and put out without any injuries.
When it was shut down, the facility was producing 175 MW of power. Due to a fuel oil supply/return pipeline leak, the unit had to be manually shut down after the fire.
The Eskom crew was able to isolate the fuel sources, which limited the damage to the unit to just the feedwater regulating station and the front-firing floor.
Investigations are currently being conducted to determine the origin of the leak as well as the type and scope of the harm done.
The unit’s eventual return to duty will be decided in due time. Eskom will put in constant effort to get the machine back in operation as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, in another incident in South Africa’s capital, Johannesburg, the city has been shaken by yet another earthquake, the second in as many months. A seismic event caused the tremors that some locals felt, according to the Council for Geoscience.
It stated that on Saturday, just before 7pm and a 2.98 local magnitude earthquake was felt in the southern suburbs.
About two kilometres south of Harmony Doornkop Gold Mine is where the epicenter was. No injuries were reported.