{"id":758821,"date":"2024-03-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=758821"},"modified":"2024-03-08T15:27:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T13:27:59","slug":"collapse-of-eskom-power-stations-in-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/758821\/collapse-of-eskom-power-stations-in-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Collapse of Eskom power stations in photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eskom\u2019s performance has collapsed thanks to its overly complex management system, inadequate maintenance, and low staff morale. This collapse can be seen in photos of the utility\u2019s poorly run coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photos and feedback are from the German consultancy group VGBE Energy, which the National Treasury commissioned to analyse the performance of Eskom\u2019s coal-fired power plants and recommend ways to improve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The German engineers, who have extensive experience running coal-fired power plants, spent four and a half months studying South Africa\u2019s ailing power utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went through Eskom\u2019s coal fleet, plant by plant, to determine what changes the utility should make to improve the performance of the individual stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pointed to several overarching issues, such as Eskom\u2019s complex management system, inadequate maintenance, and low staff morale, as reasons why the utility\u2019s performance has declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another factor is the general incompetence and lack of ability to implement theoretical knowledge in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the report said that most of the issues \u201crelating to the low Energy Availability Factor (EAF) can be attributed to a single root cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe management system with its governance, structure and processes is dysfunctional and too complex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskom has too many organisational layers and unclear decision-making processes. This generates a tremendous amount of red tape and a lack of accountability, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEskom\u2019s generation fleet has been trapped within this complex management system for so long that it is no longer able to maintain or improve the technical performance of the coal-fired plants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report included many photos that illustrated the lack of maintenance and general housekeeping of Eskom\u2019s coal-fired power plants, showing just how far the utility\u2019s once-high standards have fallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arnot Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Example of poor housekeeping at Arnot Power Station<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Examples of steam and water leakages in Arnot\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Removed filling of Arnot\u2019s cooling tower<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Camden Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Valve leakages in Camden\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Turbine with cracked spray insulation at Camden power plant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Steam leakages on the lower floors of the Camden machinery house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Duvha Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Leakages at Duvha boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Leaking pump in Duvha\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Grootvlei Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Water leakages in Grootvlei\u2019s dusty boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Flooded and wet floors at Grootvlei<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Kendal Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Kendal Unit 2 \u2013 PAH duct covered in ash and dust (April 2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Back of Kendal\u2019s boiler at ash handling plant. Ash was everywhere, with water covering the floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Kendal station was covered in a dust cloud in May 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Ash in Kendal\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Kriel Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Example of cracked plaster insulation at a pipe in Kriel\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Water and steam leakages in Kriel\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Kusile Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Poor housekeeping at Kusile<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Water logging in Kusile\u2019s coal handling plant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Lethabo Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Lethabo\u2019s water treatment plant in May 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Majuba Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Majuba boilers with a lot of dust due to bad housekeeping<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Majuba\u2019s ash extraction, emergency disposal \u2013 poor housekeeping<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Coal mill at Majuba Unit 1 with patchy canals and overall bad condition<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Soiled transformer at Majuba power plant \u2013 covered in grease and oil from the ACC fans<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Matimba Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Poor housekeeping in Matimba\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Tutuka Power Station<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Massive dust pollution at Tutuka\u2019s boiler house<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Water\/oil leaking on instrumentation and electrical equipment at Tutuka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Water distribution and structure of a cooling tower at Tutuka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Poorly-cleaned turbine with cracked spray insulation at Tutuka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Tutuka\u2019s tank room for turbine lube oil \u2013 with poor housekeeping<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This article was first published by Daily Investor and reproduced with permission. Read the original here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read: Eskom kisses millions goodbye as 232 transformers get stolen in one year<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos have emerged showing the state of operations inside various Eskom\u2019s coal-fired power plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":758841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[1164,19555],"class_list":["post-758821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-vgbe-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758821"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758873,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758821\/revisions\/758873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}