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Sign up with GoogleTurbine damage at Duvha power station
- Thread starter rebel998
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WaxLyrical
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That's some serious damage.
Ivan Leon
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Here are two articles detailing the devastation caused by a runaway turbine that exploded at the Duvha Power station in February 2011, during a 'routine maintenance test' when ALL the safety mechanisms were disabled!
http://nolstuijt.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/duvha-powerstation-turbine-blowup-sa/
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-industrials/what-is-going-on-at-eskoms-duvha-power-station
http://nolstuijt.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/duvha-powerstation-turbine-blowup-sa/
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-industrials/what-is-going-on-at-eskoms-duvha-power-station
Ivan Leon
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Ivan Leon
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Previous link on MyBB detailing this incident:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/322109-Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/322109-Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo
HavocXphere
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Not quite. Disabling some of the systems is part of the test:
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/duvha-power-stations-very-big-bang-2011-04-15
Ivan Leon
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The turbine has a governor valve which controls the amount of steam coming into the turbine in order to keep it running at the right speed (3000 rpm for our grid frequency) and then it has a main isolation valve to shut the steam off completely.
The protections systems (of which there are 3 independent systems, and a dude with his finger on the emergency button) are supposed to close this main isolation valve in a fraction of a second when the turbine overspeeds.
“So they get ready for the test, they dump a helluva lot of steam onto the turbine, speed starts going crazy, it went from 3000 RPM to 4500 RPM in ten seconds (they are generally only designed for 10 to 15% overspeed, all three protection systems should have kicked in by the time you get to 110%).
Anyway, I don’t know why, but all three systems failed, and the dude with his finger on the manual trip button wasn’t at his post. So the result was a big bang, some fire and a lot of steam going where it shouldn’t go.”
The_Unbeliever
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Expect a lot more hoaxes coming....
Ho3n3r
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Link to proof of it being a hoax?
The_Unbeliever
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would they have the time to run a test when the power grid is already constrained? I think not.
The_Unbeliever
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Believe what you want.
Ivan Leon
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The Duvha Power Station Turbine incident happened in February 2011 - here is the News24 link to it, as well as further links to substantiate the incident.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo-20110327
Eskom makes R3bn boo-boo
A comedy of errors has cost Eskom R3bn and severely compromised South Africa’s supply of electricity.
This has emerged after last month’s massive explosion at the Duvha power station outside *Witbank, Mpumalanga.
The February 9 explosion ripped through one of the turbines at the power station, causing extensive damage to the station’s infrastructure and immediately removing 600MW from the country’s electricity supply. That amount can power a city the size of Bloemfontein during peak hours.
It has now emerged that human error or lack of personnel caused the explosion, as it happened *during a routine check.
Eskom is investigating whether the control room at the station was unmanned when all its safety mechanisms failed during a maintenance test on February 9.
The fiasco was caused by a faulty bolt which was supposed to have slowed down the turning speed of the *turbine once it started spinning 10% faster than it was designed to.
Out of control
This failed to happen and the *turbine spun out of control. The *shut-down mechanism in the maintenance room also did not work when maintenance engineer Piet Bester, who was conducting the tests at the time, tried to shut the turbine down.
It appears that there was nobody in the control room to activate the *emergency mechanism, which would have shut down the turbine immediately.
Four seconds later the turbine exploded, sending metal shrapnel tearing through the 30m-high roof of the turbine hall.
A witness said that absolute *chaos ensued. One man, who had been showering at the time, ran outside naked.
Amazingly, nobody was injured in the explosion, which took place after working hours.
None of the other six generator units in the same turbine hall of the power station was damaged.
“This incident has happened at the worst possible time,” said Mike Rossouw, chairperson of the *Energy Intensive Users’ Group (EIUG), a coalition of big *manufacturers.
He said Eskom had already *indicated that the power reserve margin was dangerously low and that there was little room to *conduct routine maintenance.
Reliability of national grid
Rossouw said the explosion could have an effect on the *reliability of the national grid, *because scheduled maintenance at other stations was being delayed now that 600MW of generational capacity had been lost.
“We are worried that such a thing could happen again,” said Dirk *Herman of trade union Solidarity.
This showed that Eskom’s *personnel network could not handle the immense pressure, he said.
“Eskom’s investigation into the incident must be broadened to *include an audit of the state of the network and the state of Eskom staff,” he said.
Eskom’s spokesperson, Hillary Joffe, said that the incident was a *timeous warning to all South Africans to *reduce their electricity *consumption.
Two weeks ago Eskom presented a plan to government on how to force consumers to save electricity and on the issuing of fines to those who transgressed, she said.
Other links:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/322109-Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo
http://nolstuijt.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/duvha-powerstation-turbine-blowup-sa/
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-industrials/what-is-going-on-at-eskoms-duvha-power-station
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo-20110327
Eskom makes R3bn boo-boo
A comedy of errors has cost Eskom R3bn and severely compromised South Africa’s supply of electricity.
This has emerged after last month’s massive explosion at the Duvha power station outside *Witbank, Mpumalanga.
The February 9 explosion ripped through one of the turbines at the power station, causing extensive damage to the station’s infrastructure and immediately removing 600MW from the country’s electricity supply. That amount can power a city the size of Bloemfontein during peak hours.
It has now emerged that human error or lack of personnel caused the explosion, as it happened *during a routine check.
Eskom is investigating whether the control room at the station was unmanned when all its safety mechanisms failed during a maintenance test on February 9.
The fiasco was caused by a faulty bolt which was supposed to have slowed down the turning speed of the *turbine once it started spinning 10% faster than it was designed to.
Out of control
This failed to happen and the *turbine spun out of control. The *shut-down mechanism in the maintenance room also did not work when maintenance engineer Piet Bester, who was conducting the tests at the time, tried to shut the turbine down.
It appears that there was nobody in the control room to activate the *emergency mechanism, which would have shut down the turbine immediately.
Four seconds later the turbine exploded, sending metal shrapnel tearing through the 30m-high roof of the turbine hall.
A witness said that absolute *chaos ensued. One man, who had been showering at the time, ran outside naked.
Amazingly, nobody was injured in the explosion, which took place after working hours.
None of the other six generator units in the same turbine hall of the power station was damaged.
“This incident has happened at the worst possible time,” said Mike Rossouw, chairperson of the *Energy Intensive Users’ Group (EIUG), a coalition of big *manufacturers.
He said Eskom had already *indicated that the power reserve margin was dangerously low and that there was little room to *conduct routine maintenance.
Reliability of national grid
Rossouw said the explosion could have an effect on the *reliability of the national grid, *because scheduled maintenance at other stations was being delayed now that 600MW of generational capacity had been lost.
“We are worried that such a thing could happen again,” said Dirk *Herman of trade union Solidarity.
This showed that Eskom’s *personnel network could not handle the immense pressure, he said.
“Eskom’s investigation into the incident must be broadened to *include an audit of the state of the network and the state of Eskom staff,” he said.
Eskom’s spokesperson, Hillary Joffe, said that the incident was a *timeous warning to all South Africans to *reduce their electricity *consumption.
Two weeks ago Eskom presented a plan to government on how to force consumers to save electricity and on the issuing of fines to those who transgressed, she said.
Other links:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/322109-Eskom-makes-R3bn-boo-boo
http://nolstuijt.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/duvha-powerstation-turbine-blowup-sa/
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-industrials/what-is-going-on-at-eskoms-duvha-power-station
Not a question of belief, just fact. All I know is via media reports back then. If they're wrong, please share what you know. Genuinely keen to be fair.
The March 2014 shutdown of Unit 3 is genuine for sure. But no-one outside knows why.
The March 2014 shutdown of Unit 3 is genuine for sure. But no-one outside knows why.
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- Feb 23, 2005
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- 89,378
Reusing the exact same photographs used nearly four years ago doesn't lend any credibility to the "story".