Fire causes ‘significant damage’ to unfinished Kusile generating unit

A fire damaged one of the generating units at Kusile Power Station that has not yet been synchronised to the grid, Eskom said on Friday.  The fire occurred at a gas air heater on 17 September at unit 5, which is in the process of being commissioned. The power utility said that while its fire protection systems extinguished the fire, inspections showed “significant damage”. Eskom said it was inspecting the damage to determine what needs be repaired. At the same time, it is seeking to establish what caused the fire. “All efforts are being applied to expedite the repair of the [gas air heater] to enable the progress of commissioning of the unit and synchronisation to the national grid,” said Eskom. “At this time repair duration is speculative and based on utility experience, actual duration will be determined once the scope of work has been finalised.”