South Africa’s power utility, Eskom has commenced investigations into the cause of blast on the Unit 4 generator at Medupi Power Station which occurred on Sunday night.
Eskom announced on Monday that Unit 4 of Medupi Power Station experienced an explosion on the Unit 4 generator at about 10:50pm. The incident is suspected to be responsible for the tripping of Unit 5.
“No injuries have been reported and all employees and contractors have been accounted for. Emergency services attended to seven colleagues requiring treatment for shock.
“Eskom will continue to provide support to the employees who might have been affected by the incident through its Employee Assistance Programme (EAP),” the power supplier said.
“Unit 4 was on a short-term outage (since August 6) when the incident occurred, and all work on the unit was suspended with immediate effect. This included the suspension of all permits to work on the plant until further notice.”
Eskom said the area was secured adding that the fire chief and resident engineers; inspections and assessments teams would begin to determine the cause of the incident and extent of the damage caused.
The company added that preparation for the return to service of Medupi Unit 5 was currently in progress.
“Investigations are under way into the cause of the incident and Eskom will update the public on developments, as well as to what extent this unfortunate incident will impact the national electricity grid.”
There were no injuries, and all employees and contractors have been accounted for. However, emergency services attended to seven members of staff requiring treatment for shock.