TRUE STORY!
This rates as a pretty big Boo Boo.
Our local utility supplier ESKOM manged to blow up a 600Mw steam turbine during a routine overspeed test.
They then tried to keep a lid on it by reporting it as a fire during routine maintenance.
A comedy of errors has cost Eskom R3bn and severely compromised South Africa’s supply of electricity. This has emerged after last month’s massive explosion at the Duvha power station outside Witbank, Mpumalanga.
The February 9 explosion ripped through one of the turbines at the power station, causing extensive damage to the station’s infrastructure and immediately removing 600MW from the country’s electricity supply. That amount can power a city the size of Bloemfontein during peak hours.
It has now emerged that human error or lack of personnel caused the explosion, as it happened during a routine check. Eskom is investigating whether the control room at the station was unmanned when all its safety mechanisms failed during a maintenance test on February 9. It appears that there was nobody in the control room to activate the emergency mechanism, which would have shut down the turbine immediately.
“We are worried that such a thing could happen again,” said Dirk Herman of trade union Solidarity. This showed that Eskom’s personnel network could not handle the immense pressure, he said. “Eskom’s investigation into the incident must be broadened to include an audit of the state of the network and the state of Eskom staff,” he said.
Read full story here - Eskom makes R3bn boo-boo
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