Page 9 - AfrElec Week 32 2021

AfrElec COAL-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec
Eskom suffers explosion at Medupi
SOUTH AFRICA
AN explosion took place on August 8 at the new Unit 4 of Eskom’s 4,764-MW Medupi Power Station just one week after it began commercial generation.
Eskom said that the coal-fired power plant had “experienced an explosion on the Unit 4 generator at approximately at 22.50 on 8 August. The incident is suspected to have resulted in Unit 5 tripping.”
“No injuries have been reported and all employees and contractors have been accounted for. Emergency services attended to seven col- leagues requiring treatment for shock.”
Eskom said that it had opened a criminal case of malicious damage to property following the explosion.
“When there is an incident like the explosion at Medupi, Eskom must report it to the National Keypoint Office, based on a security law which identifies certain strategic buildings as national keypoints. This office then requested Eskom to lay a charge with the SAPS [SA Police Service] in order for the matter to be registered with the National Keypoint Office, which Eskom then did,” Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantsh- antsha told local media outlet Fin24.
Eskom had earlier placed certain employees
under precautionary suspension pending the conclusion of an investigation into the explosion, citing a “deviation from procedure”.
While no injuries had been reported, emer- gency services attended to seven employees for shock. All employees and contractors have been accounted for, Eskom said at the time.
The construction of the coal-fired Medupi power station, which is located outside Lephalale in Limpopo Province, was initially expected to cost about ZAR80bn ($5bn), but the figure was revised several times over the years, reaching an estimated cost of ZAR122bn ($8.3bn).
The cost of building Medupi and the sim- ilar Kuslie power plants could now stand at ZAR451bn ($29.6bn), Eskom has admitted, the same as the company’s entire debt and three times the original estimate of ZAR163.2bn ($10.7bn).
The two projects are were originally launched in 2007 and should have been online by 2015. However, the current target dates for completion are now 2021 for Medupi and 2023 for Kusile.
Poor planning, disputes with contractors and accusations of substandard equipment had all caused major project delays.™
Zambia experiences major power cuts
POWER CUTS
ZAMBIA
ZAMBIA was hit by an almost country-wide power cut on August 8, with Zesco, the state- ownedpowerutilityblamingtotalsystemfailure.
The company said it was working to ensure “all systems are restored as quickly as possible”.
Much of the country including the capital Lusaka and the Copperbelt region, which is home to the majority of Zambia’s copper mines, was without power for hours on August 8.
The mines resorted to emergency diesel power to ensure supplies, while many urban customers had to wait in the dark until supplies were restored.
Zesco later said it had begun a systematic res- toration of power and was investigating the cause of the loss of electricity.
Zambia mostly gets its power from hydro- electric generation and has in the past experi- enced power cuts due to irregular rainfall.
Zambia currently has 2.8 GW of installed generation capacity, of which 2.38 GW is from hydropower plants (HPPs).
The country is in theory already self-sufficient in terms of electricity supply and is expected to have surplus generation by 2022 after the com- missioning of renewables projects that are now under development.
However, the country is vulnerable to power cuts if water levels are low at hydro installations, suchasattheKaribaNorthHPP.
The country has turned to China to help develop renewables in a bid to lessen its reliance on unpredictable hydro.
Zesco has signed a deal with Power China to install 600 MW of utility-scale solar projects at three locations in districts in Zambia.
The deal aims to improve access to reli- able power supplies and to boost industrial development.
The country became the first African nation to default on its debts last November, and the government is currently in talks with the IMF and creditors to restructure $12bn of external debt before August’s presidential election.
The government has also risked upending IMF talks by making a pre-election push to take control of the country’s copper mines. Zambia’s mining investment arm ZCCM-IH took out $1.5bn of loans last week to close the purchase of Glencore’s majority stake in Mopani Copper Mines. The acquisition follows a pledge by Pres- ident Edgar Lungu last month to acquire “strate- gic” stakes in the country’s resources industry.™
Week 31 05•August•2021 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P9