60 day reduction in Kriel Unit 6 outage earns Steinmüller Africa Eskom innovation award
Johannesburg, Steinmüller Africa’s crane-free rigging solution shortened the Kriel Unit 6 outage by 60 days, earning the company’s site team the award for Innovation at the annual Eskom Kriel Managers Award 2025.
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.
The solution eliminated a critical bottleneck during the unit’s post-incident recovery. When 31-metre scaffolding for 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 overhead crane repairs that were necessary to support Eskom Rotek Industries’ turbine maintenance on the unit,” said Lonas Makhubele, Kriel 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 award reflects broader operational performance across Steinmüller Africa’s Eskom portfolio in 2024–2025.
On safety, the company’s site teams at both Kriel and Majuba each surpassed 1 000 000 recordable-case-rate-free hours. The Kriel milestone ran from 11 August 2024 to 30 April 2025, covering the high-intensity Unit 6 recovery and concurrent outage work.
On quality and productivity, Steinmüller Africa completed more than 51 000 pressure-boundary butt welds to radiographic acceptance standards across Kendal, Kriel, Hendrina and Kusile in 2025, deploying up to 350 coded welders at peak capacity.
The Innovation award adds to Steinmüller Africa’s consistent record of client recognition, including being named Eskom Kendal Contractor of the Year in 2024 and securing six awards at the 2024 Eskom Welding Awards.
Industry context
The Eskom Kriel Managers Awards recognise measurable contributions to station performance across safety, reliability, innovation and operational excellence. The 2025 award for Innovation 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.”