Name and Location
Ingula pumped-storage scheme project, on the border between the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa.

Client
Eskom.

Project Description
The Ingula pumped-storage scheme, located within the Little Drakensberg mountain range, 23 km north-east of Van Reenen’s Pass, will comprise an upper dam (Bedford) and a lower dam (Braamhoek). The upper reservoir site is located in the Free State and the lower reservoir site in KwaZulu-Natal. The escarpment forms the border between the two provinces.

The distance between the upper and lower reservoirs will be 4.6 km, with an elevation difference of about 470 m.

The reservoirs will be connected through underground waterways and the underground powerhouse complex, which will house four 325 MW pump turbines with a total capacity of 1 300 MW, a machine hall, a transformer hall and associated tunnels, shafts and caverns.

The twin headrace waterways, consisting of concrete and steel-lined headrace tunnels, pressure tunnels and shafts, will link the upper reservoir with the pump turbines. The draft tubes, concrete-lined surge shafts and concrete-lined tailrace tunnel will connect the pump turbines to the lower reservoir.

The upper reservoir is a concrete-faced rockfill embankment dam, 41 m high, with a total capacity of 22.4-million cubic metres and an active water storage volume of 19.2-million cubic metres. The 39-m-high lower dam comprises roller-compacted concrete, with a total capacity of 26.3-million cubic metres, and an active storage volume of 21.9-million cubic metres.

The scheme will be operated on a weekly cycle and will have an overall cycle efficiency of 78%.

Value
R25.9-billion.

Duration
The first unit of the scheme, Unit 3, is ready to feed up to 333 MW of power into the grid. The unit was synchronised to the national power grid on March 6, a year ahead of schedule – a key milestone towards full commercial operation of the plant ahead of the January 2017 deadline.

The construction of the lower waterways was completed on December 13, 2015, and filled with water from the lower dam.

Latest Developments
Despite a setback on Unit 3, a month after being synchronised to the grid, the Ingula pumped-storage scheme remains on schedule for commercial operations in January 2017, State-owned power utility Eskom has assured.

Unit 3, which became the first of the four Ingula units to be connected to the national grid on March 3 this year, suffered a fault during the test phase after running successfully for a month.

Repair work is under way on the unit’s damaged generator rotor coils after a fault occurred during commissioning tests.

“It is important to note that we have ensured that this incident does not compromise the completion schedule of the Ingula project. All four units will go into commercial operation as planned,” Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has assured.

The unit, which remains under the control of the contractor responsible for the recovery of the damaged portion of the unit, is used in manual pumping and generating mode to support the national grid at its full capacity of 333 MW.

The second unit, Unit 4, which was synchronised to the national grid on March 31, continues to supply power to the grid at a load of 361 MW – 28 MW higher than its design capacity.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Braamhoek Consultants Joint Venture (JV), or BCJV, consisting of Gibb, Knight Piésold and SSI (civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, detailed design, tender documentation, design monitoring and construction supervision); Murray & Roberts (exploratory tunnel); Grinaker-LTA (access roads); CMI JV, comprising CMC di Ravenna, PG Mavundla and Salini Impregilo (underground civil works); Royal HaskoningDHV (design and construction of upper and lower dams, access roads, visitors centre, administration building and main underground works); Afriscan (water supply, sewage treatment, small access roads and construction of temporary Eskom offices); B&E Quanza Group (aggregate quarry); Acer Africa (environmental consultants); Braamhoek Dam JV (BDJV), comprising Concor Roads & Earthworks, Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, Edwin Construction and Silver Rock (dam contract); Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation (main generating plant); Deutsche Bank (R1-billion loan); Voith (mechanical auxiliary plant, turbines and generators); ABB (electrical balance of plant); NCC Environmental Services (independent environmental control officer services); Konecranes (heavy-duty cranes); Letacla (fibre-optic communications); Siemens (generator transformers); Roshcon (line integration – main contractor); Optipower and Babcock Ntuthuko (line integration – subcontractors); and CBI and Prysmian (supply and installation of 400 kV cables).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Eskom media desk, tel +27 11 800 3304/3309/3343/3378, fax +27 11 800 3805 or email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.
Eskom senior project manager Avin Maharaj, email Avin.Maharaj@eskom.co.za; or communications Mlungisi Shongwe, email mlungisi.shongwe@eskom.co.za.
Ingula Visitors Centre, tel +27 36 342 3122 or email fifi.meyer@eskom.co.za.
ABB, tel +41 43 317 6480 or fax +41 43 317 6482.
Gibb, tel +27 11 519 4600 or fax +27 11 807 5670.
BDJV (Concor Roads & Earthworks), tel +27 11 495 2222.
CMI Mavundla JV, tel +27 36 638 6000.
Royal HaskoningDHV, Jacques du Plessis, tel +27 11 798 6000 or email Jacques.duplessis@rhdhv.com.
Impregilo, tel +39 02 4442 2115.
Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, tel +49 7321 370 or fax +49 7321 37 6180.
NCC, tel +27 21 702 2884, fax +27 86 555 0693 or email info@ncc-group.co.za.
Konecranes, tel +27 11 864 2800.
Roshcon, tel +27 11 629 8000, fax +27 11 629 1089 or email Rosh.Int.Comm@eskom.co.za.
Optipower, tel +27 21 845 6745, fax +27 21 845 5264 or email info@optipower.co.za.
Babcock Ntuthuko, tel +27 11 739 8287.
CBI, tel +27 11 928 2000, fax +27 11 392 2354 or email cbi@cbi-electric.com.
Prysmian, tel +39 02 6449 1 or email media.relations@prysmiangroup.com.