Medupi blast under investigation

Urgent investigations are under way after a generator at unit four of the Medupi power plant exploded last night. Eskom says this caused unit five to trip. No one was injured in the explosion but seven staff members were treated for shock.

Now, all work at the plant has been suspended with immediate effect. Energy experts say the national grid has now lost more than 1400 megawatts of electricity due to the overnight blast.

But engineers want to bring unit five back online as soon as possible. Medupi’s often troubled construction started back in 2007.
Yet last week Eskom announced that all six of Medupi’s units were commercially up and running.

For more we spoke to energy expert Chris Yelland.