By: Kaya News Reporter
While Eskom investigates the cause of the explosion at the Medupi power station which occurred on Sunday, the damage is estimated to set Eskom back between R1.5 to R2 billion and repairs could take a further 2-years.
Preliminary investigations showed staff who were on-site at the time of the incident had deviated from procedure and 2 operators and 4 managers have since been suspended.
According to Eskom air was let into the generator while a large quantity of hydrogen gas was still present in the system. Although a criminal case for malicious damage to property was opened, Eskom denied staff will be investigated for sabotage.
At this stage, the case is part of procedure and Eskom was obliged to report the explosion to the National Keypoint Office.
First Update: Medupi Unit 4 generator failure @News24 @SABCNews @Newzroom405 @eNCA @IOL @ewnupdates @SundayTimesZA @SowetanLIVE pic.twitter.com/wWJ1CtdWyq
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) August 9, 2021
The Medupi power station took 14-years to complete and cost R122 billion. In a statement a spokesperson for the power utility, Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the incident will not directly affect the country’s power supply.
He explained that the unit had been taken offline for short-term maintenance at the time of the incident, and the summer maintenance plan would be reworked to take the loss of unit 4 into account.
South Africans voiced their opinions over the Medupi explosion:
This Medupi crisis was an strategy to impose Private investors since they fake that it was now fixed, i feel it was a plan to make us have hope yet they know after few days it will blow while their private sector is on standby. We are led.
— Fellow South Africans (@SelbyNhleko) August 10, 2021
Big fanfare about Medupi coming on stream last week- 14 years late and massively over budget – and now a massive explosion at unit 4 and unit 5 tripping. What is going on? The country needs to know. We cannot be kept in the dark forever.
— ghaleb cachalia. MP (@GhalebCachalia) August 9, 2021



