Staff Reporter.
Eskom has confirmed a fire that broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning at Kendal Power Station in Mpumalanga.
The fire damaged Unit 1 and the cables to the main cooling water system on the west side of the power station.
“Unit 2 and Unit 3 experienced loss of vacuum and were shut down under controlled conditions,” Eskom said in a statement.
Eskom says unit one tripped at 03:44 on Saturday morning due to a failure of the generator transformer. Upon initial investigation, it was determined that the generator transformer had caught fire. The fire damaged the cables to the main cooling water system on the west side of the power station.
All personnel who were on site were evacuated safely with no injuries sustained during what Eskom describes as “an unfortunate incident”.
Further investigations were being conducted to determine the cause of the generator transformer fire.
The power utility expects that Kendal Unit 1 will be returned to service during the week.
Eskom has undertaken to provide further information in due course on how the incident will impact the national electricity grid.