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Johannesburg - A probe by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) into the recent power outages in the Western Cape has found electricity provider Eskom guilty of transgressing its licensing conditions as well as negligence.
As a consequence, the regulator said it would impose punitive sanctions against Eskom, although it did commend the power utility for developing a detailed a comprehensive Western Cape Recovery Plan.
The task team appointed by Nersa to investigate the power outages found that in an incident on November 11 2005 at Koeberg Power Station and Substation, there had been negligence on the part of the responsible people.
Maintenance procedures were also inadequate and the licence conditions stipulated in the Grid Code were breached.
Pertaining to an incident on November 12 2005 on the Beta-Hydra line and Koeberg Power Station, the probe found that commissioning and/or maintenance procedures were inadequate and that the protection system operated incorrectly.
With regards to an incident on November 16 2005 on the Droerivier- Muldersvlei line and Koeberg Power station, the investigation found that the licence conditions were breached and the implementation of remedial and/or corrective actions were not adequate.
In the case of an incident that occurred from November 23-26 2005 at Koeberg Power station, the investigation established that there was negligence on the part of the responsible Eskom personnel and that the operating risks assessment process was inadequate.
"The events described above indicate that there were deficiencies in some of the configuration management system, commissioning procedures and maintenances practices or policies.
There was also a trend that indicated ill-discipline in certain areas and non conformance to procedures. The co- ordination of the protection system required close monitoring and calculated risks or trade-offs," Nersa said in a statement on Tuesday.
The probe did not cover a shutdown at Koeberg Power Station on December 25 2005 - which was apparently caused by a bolt left in the rotor and stator mechanisms - as theis incident was investigated by another state agency.