60 day reduction in Kriel outage earns Eskom innovation award for Steinmüller Africa

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I&C February 2026 News

Steinmüller Africa’s crane-free rigging solution has shortened the Kriel Unit 6 outage by 60 days, earning the company’s site team the 2025 Eskom Kriel Managers Award for innovation. Following a fire incident at Unit 6 in 2024, both the turbine hall roof and overhead crane cables required repair. The roof work demanded a full-height scaffold assembly from floor level to 31 metres, which physically obstructed crane access.

Kriel Team celebrating the innovation award received at Eskom.

The solution eliminated a critical bottleneck during the unit’s post-incident recovery. When 31metre scaffolding for the roof repairs blocked access to the damaged overhead crane, itself essential for turbine work, the team designed and installed a temporary rigging structure that allowed all three work fronts to proceed in parallel. The conventional sequence of roof repair, scaffold removal, crane restoration, and turbine work would have added an estimated two months to the outage.

“The scaffolding prevented the overhead crane repairs that were necessary to support Eskom Rotek Industries’ turbine maintenance on the unit,” said Lonas Makhubele, project manager at Steinmüller Africa.

“The Steinmüller Africa team, together with the client, devised a rigging plan without the use of the crane for Rotek activities. We built a rigging structure that our team used to assist Rotek, and we saved over 60 days on the turnaround. The unit was returned to service notably earlier because of this innovation.”

The purpose-built temporary rigging system decoupled the turbine work from crane availability, enabling concurrent execution across all critical paths and compressing the overall project schedule by more than two months.

Performance across the fleet

The Eskom Kriel Managers Awards recognise measurable contributions to station performance across safety, reliability, innovation and operational excellence. The 2025 Innovation Award criteria prioritised solutions that demonstrably improved unit availability or reduced outage duration. “This solution succeeded because of close collaboration, rigorous planning and disciplined execution,” Makhubele said. “It’s a model for how contractors and clients can work together to compress critical paths and improve project outcomes.”

For more information contact Mpho Mafela, Steinmüller Africa, +27 11 806 3321, mpho.mafela@bilfinger.com, www.steinmullerafrica.com/boilers-heat-exchangers

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60 day reduction in Kriel outage earns Eskom innovation award for Steinmüller Africa

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