Project description
The
Kusile power station project, which is located near the existing Kendal power
station, in the Nkangala district of Mpumalanga, will comprise six units, each
rated at an 800 MW installed capacity for a total capacity of 4 800 MW. Once
completed, Kusile will be the
fourth-largest coal-fired power station in the world.
The Kusile project will include a power station precinct, power station
buildings, administrative buildings (control buildings and buildings for medical
and security purposes), roads and a high-voltage yard.
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The
associated infrastructure will include a coal stockyard, coal and ash
conveyors, water-supply pipelines, temporary electricity supply during
construction, water and wastewater treatment facilities, ash disposal systems,
a railway line, limestone offloading facilities, access roads (including haul
roads) and dams for water storage, as well as a railway siding and/or a Railway
line for the transportation of the limestone supply.(sorbent)
The power station will be the first in South Africa to install flue-gas
desulphurisation (FGD) – a state-of-the-art technology used to remove oxides of
sulphur, such as sulphur dioxide, from exhaust flue gases in power plants that
burn coal or oil. This technology is fitted as an atmospheric emission
abatement technology, in line with current international practice, to ensure
compliance with air-quality standards, especially since the power station is
located in a priority air shed area. |
The
FGD plant is a totally integrated chemical plant using limestone as feedstock
and producing gypsum as a by-product. Each supercritical tower boiler (highly
efficient) will be about 115 m high. The air-cooled condensers (ACC) will be
constructed on and supported by 60-m-high concrete columns.
The plant will use an air-cooling system to help conserve water. A total of 16
000 t of structural steel was used for the first unit’s boiler construction and
it is expected that 115 400 t of structural steel will be used for all six
units and the Balance of plant.
The operational life of the power station is expected to be 60 years. The total
estimated cabling to be installed for Kusile
is 5,300 km.
The
bulk of the coal will be sourced from mine mouths in the local area, with
further exploration continuing. |
Value
Costs
as at 31 January 2015 - Inception to date – R82 Billion excl Interest during
construction.
Total cost R118.5 Billion
excluding interest during construction, cost of cover and inflation. |
Duration
Eskom
indicated that the first synchronisation of Kusile Unit 1 is now scheduled for
the first half of 2017, with the 800 MW unit expected to enter commercial
operations only in the second half of 2017. |
Latest developments
Amid
the confusion about whether the technical requirements had been fully met
during the recent Medupi Unit 6 blow-through, Eskom and Mitsubishi Hitachi
Power Systems Africa (MHPSA) have set up a joint technical task team to review and
optimise the blow-through procedure ahead of future blow-through tests on the
11 other Medupi and Kusile units.
MHPSA, previously known as Hitachi Power Africa, is the main boiler contractor
at the troubled power projects, which have been plagued by delays, labour strike
and funding difficulties.
Eskom,
which is facing major claims across both sites, is yet to provide a final cost
estimate for the projects and, besides promising that Medupi Unit 6 will be
synchronised in February, it has also not provided a definitive update
regarding the expected interval between units. |
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However, it recently reported that the first synchronisation of Kusile Unit 1 is scheduled for the first half of 2017. The schedule for Kusile Unit 1, contained in CEO Tshediso Matona’s most recent state of the system presentation, represents a major delay from earlier indications that the milestone could be achieved in the first half of 2016.
Kusile
recently achieved a few Project Milestones as a build-up towards Unit 1
Synchronisation. In October of 2014 the 910 MVA Generator Step-up Transformer weighing
300Tons was put on its foundation, assembled with all its Auxiliary systems and
filled with 128 000 Litres of
Mineral Oil. All Electrical integrity test were performed successfully to
confirm that the transformer is ready to receive power. Unit TurboGen set was
put on Electrical Barring also in October. This is also critical in that it
demonstrates the good quality work that has gone into the assembly of the High
Pressure, Intermediate Pressure and the Two Low Pressure Turbine Cylinders
coupled to the Generator Rotor. These massive cylinders were rotated and they
turned freely supported by the Bearings on which they are mounted.
In
September a Lubricating Oil Flush was also done to all the Bearings on the
Turbine train to ensure that sufficient oil will be supplied to the bearings
for lubrication and to also confirm that there are no leaks and blockages in
the pipework. The Main Civils joint venture contractor (made-up of WBHO, Group
5, Staffanuti Stocks and Basil Read) also completed the concrete pour of Unit 6
TurboGen Foundation, comprising of 3600
Cubic meters of concrete. This is a 36 Hour continuous concrete pour that went
well without hindrances.
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Approximately
300 Employees were involved in preparing and placing Rebar and concrete shutters. All this took about Three Months to
execute. The same contractor re-accessed the Boiler 1 area to build the
foundation of the Submersible Scrapper Conveyor (SSC) of the boiler. This is
where the Hot Ash from the combustion chamber falls into a bath tub filled with
water and is removed via a steel chain (SSC).
MHPSA
were Not about to be outshined by others, as they also finished lifting the
Gantries of the Inclined Coal Conveyers system onto the concrete plinths. These
gantries will house the 3 x 750mm wide Coal Conveyors feeding 390 Tons of Coal
per Hour per boiler. The incline conveyors rise from the ground (0 Meters) under
the 1000 Tons Surge Bin Coal Silo to about 60m into Boiler House.
The
blow-through is one of the final commissioning steps ahead of grid
synchronisation and is used to flush out construction debris, cleaning the
steam of residue and particles prior to feeding it through to the turbine.
Temporary pipework is used to ensure the turbine is bypassed until specific
steam velocity, flow rates and disturbance criteria are achieved to ensure that
the steam is cleaned to the point where it cannot damage the turbine. A steel
target plate is installed inside the temporary piping under the direction of
the turbine supplier, in this case Alstom, to test the cleanliness of the
steam.
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It is also good to note that Kusile has spent more than R100 Million on CSI projects. Currently Kusile in partnership with Alstom is building a school in the Wilge area to the tune of R28 million. It is anticipated that the school will be operational in the 2016 school year.
In addition to doing work on CSI, Kusile is committed to Enterprise development, since the inception of the project, Kusile has spent more than R6.2 billion on 604 companies in the Mpumalanga area, this is a clear sign of its commitment to developing both black owned companies and black women owned companies.
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