One of State-owned power utility Eskom’s most significant power generation investments, Medupi, is reportedly behind schedule. Eskom’s chief officer for generation, Brian Dames, told Engineering News, in May this year, that the Medupi development is behind sche- dule after a “difficult start”.

It is estimated that the project is about four months behind schedule; however, this has not been confirmed by Eskom. Eskom reports that, despite challenges, the power station will be commissioned as scheduled.

The “difficult start” was the result of the discovery of unexpected rock foundation conditions, and the unplanned shattering of rock which occurred during blasting in designated areas.

Medupi is set to be the largest dry-cooled power station in the world. It is situated near Lephalale, in Limpopo province, and will be a six-unit power station with the capacity to produce 4 800 MW. The power station will use high-tech supercritical boilers.

Medupi will be Eskom’s first new coal-fired power station in more than 20 years, and is the most advanced of the utility’s new build projects. All units of the power station are set to be commissioned by March 2016. The first unit of the power station is scheduled to be operational by mid-2012, while the remaining units will be commissioned at nine-monthly intervals.

Key contracts for the construction of Medupi include the turbine contract, which is valued at about R13,4-billion, and has been awarded to global energy equipment vendor Alstom. The R2,9-billion main civils contract is a joint venture between Murray & Roberts, Concor and Grinaker-LTA.

Creamer Media’s Research Channel Africa reported that, somewhat controversially, the R19,9-billion boiler contract had been awarded to a consortium comprising Hitachi Power Europe and Hitachi Power Africa, which had, in turn, awarded the boiler construction contract to Murray & Roberts.

The role of Hitachi Power Africa has been questioned owing to the company having Chancellor House as a 25% shareholder, which is said to have strong ties with the ruling African National Congress (ANC). At the time of the contract being awarded, Eskom’s board chairperson, Valli Moosa, was a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee. However, in February, South Africa’s Public Protector found that Moosa had acted impro- perly during the awarding of the contract, but that his failure to “manage the conflict of interest” did not affect the choice of the Hitachi consortium as the contractor.

The Medupi project was initially expected to cost about R60-billion; however, recent projections have estimated a cost of about R100-billion. Eskom is continually studying these escalations, and CEO Jacob Maroga said that there might be an opportunity to claw back some of these escalations as a result of the softening of prices for some inputs.

Another alteration to the Medupi project is the inclusion of gas desulphurisation systems on three of the six units. Flue- gas desulphurisation systems remove sulphur dioxide (SO₂) gases from exhaust flue gases. The sulphur inherent in fossil fuels, such as coal, is converted to SO₂ when it is burnt. SO₂ is largely responsible for acid rain.

To subscribe to Engineering News's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.