South Africa: Eskom’s Medupi Power Station Exploded

The Medupi Power Station operated by South Africa’s power utility Eskom, on Sunday, exploded but no casualty was recorded.

The explosion occurred at the Unit 4 of the Medupi Power Station at about 22:50 hours.

Eskom in a statement said: “No injuries have been reported and all employees and contractors have been accounted for.

“Emergency services attended to seven colleagues requiring treatment for shock,” the statement added.

Eskom assured the public that it would continue to provide support to the employees who might have been affected by the incident through its Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

Eskom explained that Unit 4 was on a short-term outage (since 6th August) when the incident occurred and all work on the plant was suspended with immediate effect.

The company said the incident is suspected to have resulted in Unit 5 tripping and that “preparation for the return to service of Medupi Unit 5 is currently in progress.”

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The 4,764-megawatt Medupi coal station started commercial operation on the last of six units earlier this month, marking completion of all building activities.

The plant is part of Eskom’s new build program, which has been years behind schedule and run over budget.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com