Cape Town - In yet another major setback for the nation’s power utility, Eskom has announced that a section of a chimney at its Kusile Unit 1 has been severely damaged and the unit could remain off-line for months.
The chimney, properly known as a flue gas duct, provides a channel for exhaust gases from the power station.
Eskom said the incident occurred on October 23 while the unit was on forced shutdown for flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) recirculating pump repairs.
“Investigations and assessments are in progress to establish the cause of failure and to ascertain the extent of the damage, as well as the recovery scope of work.”
Eskom said the failed section of the Unit 1 flue gas duct was located inside the flue chimney.
“The ducts are made from steel sections welded together and surrounded by a windshield, which is made of reinforced concrete that also houses the Unit 2 and Unit 3 flue gas ducts.”
The power utility said Unit 2 was off load at the time while Unit 3 was generating electricity.
Unit 4, which FGD duct is housed on a separate flue chimney, is currently generating full load to the national grid.
The statement said that as part precautionary measures, the return to service of Unit 2 had been put on hold while Unit 3 continued to run at stable load.
“Consultations with various specialist stakeholders, including the original equipment manufacturer, are in progress to determine the best course of action to restore the plant as quickly as possible.”
In June Unit 4 of the Kusile power station was handed over to Eskom’s generation division as it entered commercial operation.
The unit was connected to the national grid for the first time on December 23 last year.
At the time, Eskom Capital Projects group executive Bheki Nxumalo said: “This milestone means the construction of four out of the six generation units has now been completed at the Kusile power station project.”
News of the Kusile breakdown came as Statistics SA released its survey results for the electricity, gas and water supply industries which showed electricity generated decreased by 7.4% between 2019 and 2021.
StatsSA said the 2021 figure was the lowest since 2006 and that South Africa’s electricity mix in 2021 was still dominated by generation from coal, despite significant increases in renewable electricity.