Power Utility Eskom Reports Explosion at Its Medupi Power Station, Several Treated
- Embattled power supplier Eskom has confirmed an explosion at one of its plants but said no people were injured in the incident
- The blast occurred at the utility's Medupi power station based in Lephalale according to a statement issued on Monday
- The cause of the blast is unknown with inspections expected to be carried out in due course to make a determination and to assess the extent of the damage
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Eskom confirmed in a statement on Monday that its Medupi power plant based in Lephalale, Limpopo experienced an explosion.
The incident is said to have occurred at the station's unit four on Sunday night with emergency services attending to several employees for shock. However, no injuries were reported, according to News24.
Source: Getty Images
Additional reporting by SABC News noted that all employees at the plant have been accounted for. Further, it is believed the incident caused unit 5 to trip but the coal-fired power station's other four generating units are said to be in operation.
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Cause of explosion yet to be determined
In the statement, the power utility said the explosion happened just before 11 pm. The immediate vicinity was cordoned off following the blast and once it has been declared safe, inspections will start to try and ascertain the cause of the explosion.
"Eskom will update the public on developments, as well as to what extent will this unfortunate incident impact the national electricity grid," the statement read in part.
The extent of the damage caused by the explosion will also be assessed. Eskom said that unit four had been on a "short-term outage" since 6 August. The utility said it was in the process of returning unit five to service.
In a previous statement, the ailing power supplier, which has for many years been the bane of many households and businesses in South Africa, said Medupi has 50 years of planned operational life.
Despite this, there are still glaring concerns about cost overruns counted into hundreds of billions of rands with Eskom set to only reliably deliver power to the national grid at full capacity within the next two years, according to reports on the ground.
Eskom: R16.9 million spent on milk, Most costly consumable of 2019/20
In other shocking news, Briefly News previously reported that Eskom has managed to cut its expenditure on consumables in half this financial year to R15.6 million.
The previous financial year saw the power utility report that it had spent R29 million on milk and toilet paper, among other consumables, which Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan revealed in a written reply to a parliamentary question.
What was of concern was that the power company had spent R16.9 million on milk, its most expensive consumable for the 2019/20 financial year, according to EWN.
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Source: Briefly News
