Explosion at Eskom power station

Power utility Eskom has confirmed that an explosion has occurred at one of its coal-fired power stations.

This comes after energy analyst Chris Yelland tweeted he had received a report from a “reliable source” of a transformer explosion at the Camden Power Station in Mpumalanga.

The tweet was accompanied by an image showing a fire at the station.

The utility said an internal fault resulted in a transformer explosion on Unit 8 of the Camden Power Station. The unit produces approximately 190MW.

“The fire has been contained, and no injuries have been reported,” Eskom said.

The utility said an investigation would determine the cause, the extent of the damage and the possible return to service of the unit.

It added it did not expect the event to disrupt the electricity supply to the country.

Below is the tweet from energy expert Chris Yelland, showing the fire that resulted from the explosion at Camden Power Station.

I have a report from a reliable source this morning of a transformer explosion at @Eskom_SA‘s Camden power station. Awaiting confirmation and further details from Eskom. pic.twitter.com/994c4SpXeq

— Chris Yelland (@chrisyelland) December 29, 2021

The latest incident follows a raft of explosions and fires at several of Eskom’s power stations over the past year.

Fires that broke out at Kendal in February 2021 and again in September 2021 disrupted operations and resulted in units going offline, cutting down available capacity at the time.

In August 2021, a massive explosion destroyed a generator at Medupi Unit 4, cutting around 700MW of supply from the grid.

Repairs on that unit will take around two years and cost R2 billion, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter previously said.

Many of the utility’s stations are much older than the world’s average coal-fired power stations.

Some have had their lifespans extended as the South African government failed to heed calls to build sufficient new capacity to deal with increasing electricity demand.

However, there have also been several instances of units tripping under suspicious circumstances, which has led to Eskom investigating the possibility of sabotage at its power stations carried out by its own employees.