Jellyfish are to blame for stage 4 load-shedding: Friday’s schedule
The excess marine life and debris had been cleared off the drum filter and it is back in service
Jellyfish and other marine life, which clogged a filter in a sea water cooling pump at Koeberg Power Station, necessitated the switch off of Unit 1 at the power station earlier this week.
Eskom on Thursday said Unit 1 was manually tripped by the operators in line with operating procedure. The reason for the manual trip was as a result of the increasing temperature on the secondary side of the plant due to degraded heat removal (or cooling) capability because the pump that remained in service was not able to remove heat.
The circulating cooling water system pump tripped due to the low level in the suction pit as a result of the drum filter that was clogged by an acute ingress of marine life (jellyfish and fish), said Eskom.
According to Eskom, normally, Koeberg units are able to survive a trip of one circulating cooling water system pump. The actions required from the operators are to reduce power to below 60 per cent and to ensure that temperatures on the secondary side stabilise.
In this case the temperature did not stabilise due to the heat exchanger remaining in service had reduced heat transfer efficiency.
The excess marine life and debris had been cleared off the drum filter and it is back in service. The level in the suction pit has sufficiently recovered and the circulating water system pump has been but back in service. The pump had not been damaged as initially feared.
The required technical assessments and regulatory approvals have been obtained to start up and safely return the Koeberg Unit 1 back on the grid. The projected synchronisation date is Sunday.
In the meantime, stage 4 load-shedding will continue until Friday evening. Eskom expects that load-shedding at reduced stages may continue into the weekend.
Kempton Park’s schedule for Friday is:
7.30am – 10.30am: No information available. Geyser ripple control has been ceased and the metro still has not made details available.
10am – 1pm: Bredell, Pomona, Glen Marais Extensions (49, 52, 89 & 98), Serengeti, Brentwood Park, Aston Manor, Nimrod Park, Parts of Kempton Park Ext 2 & Ext 4
12.30pm – 3.30pm: Kempton Park CBD, Kempton Part Extensions, Croydon, Cresslawn, Rhodesfield, Kelvin Estate and Esther Park
3pm – 6pm: Birchleigh, Birchleigh North, Glen Erasmia, Kaalfontein, Esselen Park and Esselen Park Extensions
5.30pm – 8.30pm: No information available. Geyser ripple control has been ceased and the metro still has not made details available.
8pm – 11pm: Glen Marais, Allen Grove, Norkem Park, Birchleigh Extensions and Bonaero Park
10.30pm – midnight: Bredell, Pomona, Glen Marais Extensions (49, 52, 89 & 98), Serengeti, Brentwood Park, Aston Manor, Nimrod Park, Parts of Kempton Park Ext 2 & Ext 4
Midnight – 3am: Kempton Park CBD, Kempton Part Extensions, Croydon, Cresslawn, Rhodesfield, Kelvin Estate and Esther Park
2.30am – 5.30am: Birchleigh, Birchleigh North, Glen Erasmia, Kaalfontein, Esselen Park and Esselen Park Extensions
