Power utility Eskom said that the power system is projected to be severely constrained due to the loss of 1 800 MW at the Majuba power station on Saturday.
According to Eskom, the loss at the Majuba power station was caused by damage to the central coal storage silo.
As a result, Eskom started implementing stage 1 of rotational load shedding on Sunday 2 November from 08:00 until 22:00 according to the published load shedding schedules available at http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/.
A silo, which houses over 10 000 tons of coal, cracked on Staurday afternoon impacting coal supplies to all six units at the power station resulting in the power station operating at reduced capacity of 1 300MW. No injuries were reported.
Eskom said teams are on site and are in the process of dispatching mobile coal feeders to site.
“In the unlikely event that this contingency is unsuccessful, it may impact the full supply from the power station.”
Eskom engineers are investigating the cause of the incident and more details will be released in due course
Customers are urged to switch off pool pumps, turn air-conditioning to 23?C and to switch off geysers and unnecessary lights to limit the impact of the load shedding.
Eskom customers can contact the customer call centre on 0860 037 566. Municipal customers need to contact their own municipalities for their schedules.
Customers are cautioned to treat all electrical connections as live during this period.
The Utility’s Chief Executive Tshediso Matona on Sunday said no injuries were reported following the incident.
He said all units were running normally prior to the silo collapse, but at approximately 12:30 one of the staff members at the station reported a visible crack on silo number 20.
He said the crack on the silo enabled personnel on the station site to be evacuated. The crack was later followed by a collapse.
“The area was immediately secured and protected,” he said.
Matona said the station output was immediately affected and reduced from 3 600 megawatts to 18 00 megawatts and the situation worsened afterwards.
“We are now sitting at capacity output of 600 megawatts,” he added.
Matona said Eskom engineers are investigating the cause of the incident and results will be communicated in due cause.
“The latest civil-visual inspection that was conducted in September 2013 found that the concrete structure was in good condition,” he said.
He added that there was some external damage which was attended to and that risk classification at the time was classified as low.
The other two silos remaining at the power station will not be operational as they also undergo inspection.
“The cause and costs of the incident are yet to be investigated,” he said.
He said the situation is being monitored constantly and the public will be updated on progress, both on the incident and contingency plans.
“We do not think we will be able to recover all the capacity, but our aim is [over the next couple of days] to make sure that we recover as much lost capacity as possible,” he said.
He said the success thereof will depend on logistic arrangements to feed coal to the units.
Eskom said it will in the meantime make use of mobile coal feeders at the station, as one of interventions to recover lost capacity.
Meanwhile, the public is urged to switch off pool pumps, turn air-conditioning to 23?C and to switch off geysers and unnecessary lights to limit the impact of the load shedding.
He said Eskom will keep the public updated about any developments and information regarding load shedding.
Alan Straton
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