Eskom has confirmed on Saturday that unit 1 at Kendal station in Mpumalanga tripped, and when an investigation was conducted it was found that it had caught fire. This has forced the power utility to shut down some of the affected units.
Investigations are under way to determine the cause of the fire.
This is the second Eskom power plant that has been affected by a fire, after there was an explosion at Medupi a few weeks ago.
Eskom said unit 1 tripped at Kendal power station this morning after the generator transformer failed.
“Upon initial investigation, it was determined that the generator transformer had caught fire. The fire damaged the cables to the main cooling water system on the west side of the power station. Unit 2 and 3 experienced loss of vacuum and were shut down under controlled conditions,” said Eskom in a statement.
When an explosion happened at Medupi’s unit 4 it was estimated that this would cost billions of rands to repair. The damage to that unit was still being investigated and it is believed it would take some time to get fixed.
Deputy President David Mabuza said recently that the investigation on the explosion would be made public, on conclusion.