Name and Location
Kusile power plant project, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Client
Eskom.

Project Description
Kusile will be a six-unit, greenfield, mine-mouth, super-critical coal-fired power plant, with about 4 800 MW of gross output. It will be built adjacent to the existing Kendal power station, in the eMalahleni municipal area.

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.

The associated infrastructure will include a coal stockyard, coal and ash conveyors, water-supply pipelines (temporary and permanent), 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 line for the sorbent (limestone) supply.

The unit will be the first power station in South Africa to install flue gas desulphurisation – 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.

The plant will use an air-cooling system to help conserve water. Kusile will be the largest dry-cooled power plant in Africa. 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. To date, more than 600 000 m3 of concrete has been used at the site.

Kusile has one of the largest concrete batch plants in South Africa. The operational life of the power station is expected to be 60 years. The total estimated cabling to be installed for each Kusile unit is 1 000 km per unit.

The bulk of the coal will be sourced from mine mouths in the local area and further exploration is ongoing.

Value
The project is being developed at a cost of R118.5-billion and Eskom has spent R44.1-billion to date.

Duration
Although the project has had some delays, the first generating unit is scheduled to enter the South African electrical grid by late 2014, with the subsequent five units being commissioned at eight and then 12-month intervals thereafter. The last unit is expected to be in commercial operation by 2018.

Latest Developments
Eskom has reported that:
the generator stator for Unit 1 (360 tons) has been set;
• the concrete placement for the Unit 3 steam turbine foundation has been completed;
• the pulling of the cabling required to support backfeed has started;
• the high-voltage yard has been commissioned and energised;
• the boiler for Unit 1 is 27.7% complete;
• the boiler for Unit 2 is 9.3% complete;
• silo construction is 68% complete;
• the west chimney is 85.5% complete;
• the main civil works are 66.1% complete;
• the turbine for Unit 1 is 56% complete;
• materials handling is 14.6% complete; and
• the access roads have all been completed.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Ninham Shand Consulting Services (environmental-impact assessment, geotechnical investigation and traffic impact); AirShed Planning Professionals (air-quality impact); Jongens Keet Associates (noise impact); Strategic Environmental Focus, or SEF (visual impacts); Makecha Development Association (impacts on terrestrial fauna and flora); Golder Associates, through Ecosun (aquatic-ecosystem impact); Groundwater Consulting Services (groundwater impact); Ilitha Riscom (risk assessment); Northern Flagship Institution (archaeological impact); University of the Free State (impacts on agricultural potential); Urban-Econ, or UE (socioeconomic impacts); Seaton Thomson & Associates (planning implications); Mark Wood Environmental Consultants (process review); Eskom; in partnership with Black & Veatch International (project management and engineering services); Hitachi Power Africa, a subsidiary of Hitachi Power Europe, or HPE (boiler contract); Actom, formerly Alstom S&E Africa (main turbine area); Alstom (turbine contract and distributed control system, or DCS); Mikropul, subcontracted by Alstom (axial-flow fans and auxiliary equipment for the turbine halls' ventilation); Murray & Roberts, or M&R (boiler construction contract); Roshcon, a subsidiary of Eskom (enabling civils, terracing construction and site services); Concrete Finishing Equipment (dust filters and silo and environmental safety); the Kusile Civil Works, or KCW Joint Venture (JV), comprising Stefanutti Stocks, Basil Read, Group Five and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) Construction (main civil works); BHR Piping Systems (bending machine); Siemens (generator transformers and electrical and auxilary power); EsorFranki Geotechnical, formerly Franki Africa and Stefanutti Stocks Geotechnical (SSG JV), under a subcontract to the KCW JV (piling works for the turbine, boiler and air-cooled condensers, or ACC); Concor Karrena JV (construction of chimney shells/structures); Alstom, in consortium with Cosira (engineering, supply and installation of FGD system); DSE Structural Engineers & Contractors, subcontracted by Genrec Engineering (fabrication of steel columns for boilers 1 to 3); Steel Services Direct, or SSD (steel, pipes and wax plants); GB Bearings (supplier of HSR horizontal bearing assemblies and profile bore bearings); Sulzer Pumps South Africa, subcontracted by Actom (supply of booster and boiler feed pumps); Steloy Castings, subcontracted by Sulzer Pumps South Africa (supply of chrome steel components for the pumps); Clyde Bergemann Power Group subcontracted by Hitachi Power Africa (supplier of sootblowers for boilers); Clyde Bergemann Africa (fly ash handling system); ABB (supplier of medium-voltage switchgear and associated equipment); PD Naidoo & Associates (PDNA) Industrial Projects (main water and wastewater treatment contractor); GE Water Engineered Systems, subcontracted by PDNA Industrial Projects (advanced water and wastewater treatment equipment); Bateman Africa (coal stockyard and terrace material materials handling systems); Lesedi Nuclear Services (procurement and supply of the balance of plant equipment); Grinaker-LTA Metals and Minerals (supply and erection of piping, steelwork and free-issue chemicals); US Export-Import Bank, or Ex-Im Bank (loan finance); TBD (railroad construction) and combustion water terrace construction (Phase 1 and 2) and Konecranes (heavy-duty cranes).

Contact Details for Project Information
ABB media relations, tel +41 43 317 6568 or email media.relations@ch.abb.com.
Actom, tel +27 11 820 5111 or fax +27 11 820 5100.
AirShed Planning Professionals, tel +27 11 805 1940, fax +27 11 805 7010 or email mail@airshed.co.za.
Alstom press, tel +33 1 41 49 2982/3308.
Basil Read investor relations, Enna Kruger, tel +27 11 418 6375, fax +27 11 418 6334 or email ekruger@basilread.co.za.
Bateman Africa, tel +27 11 899 9000, fax +27 11 899 4903 or email enquiries-africa@batemanengineering.com.
Bateman Engineered Technologies tel +27 11 201 2300 or email enquiries@bateman-bet.com.
Black & Veatch media relations and communications, tel +1 913 458 8001 or email Mediainfo@bv.com.
Clyde Bergemann Africa, tel +27 11 704 0580, fax +27 11 704 0597 or email enquiry@cbz.co.za.
Clyde Bergemann Power Group, tel +49 281 815 101, fax +49 281 815 184 or email info@clydebergemannpowergroup.com.
Concrete Finishing Equipment, tel +27 82 788 8265.
DSE Structural Engineers & Contractors, tel +27 11 871 4111, fax +27 11 871 4141 or email dse@grinaker-lta.co.za.
Eskom media desk, tel +27 11 800 3304/3309/3343/3378, fax +27 86 664 7699 or email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.
EsorFranki, tel +27 11 771 3906.
Ex-Im Bank, tel +1 202 565 3200.
GB Bearings, tel +27 11 974 1291 or fax +27 11 974 1468.
GE global communications, tel +1 215 942 3409.
Golder Associates, tel +27 12 366 0100 or fax +27 12 366 0111.
Grinaker-LTA Metals and Minerals, tel +27 11 681 2200 or fax +27 11 681 1810.
Group Five, tel +27 11 806 0111.
Hitachi Power Africa, tel +27 11 260 4300, fax +27 11 656 3609 or email info@hitachi-power.co.za; or media liaison Pamella Radebe, tel +27 11 260 4300 or email p_radebe@hitachi-power.co.za.
Jongens Keet Associates, fax +27 21 794 5643, or email jongens@yebo.co.za.
Lesedi Nuclear Services marketing manager Shane Pereira, tel +27 21 525 1300, fax +27 21 525 1333 or email shane.pereira@lesedins.co.za.
Mikropul, tel +27 478 0456, fax +27 478 0371 or email sales@mikropul.co.za.
M&R group communications executive Ed Jardim, tel +27 11 456 6200, fax +27 11 455 1322 or email eduard.jardim@murrob.com.
Ninham Shand Consulting Services, tel +27 21 481 2400 or fax +27 21 424 5588.
Northern Flagship Institution, tel +27 12 322 7632 or fax +27 12 322 5560.
PDNA head office, tel +27 11 566 8300, fax +27 11 566 8600 or email johannesburg@pdna.co.za.
Roshcon, tel +27 11 629 8000 or fax +27 11 626 3460.
Seaton Thomson & Associates, tel +27 12 667 2107, cell +27 82 920 6115, fax +27 12 667 2109 or email seaton@yebo.co.za.
SEF, tel +27 12 349 1307 or fax +27 12 349 1229.
SSD, tel +27 11 828 0439 or fax +27 11 828 2810.
Stefanutti Stocks Civils contracts director Mark Stannard, tel +27 11 571 4300.
Stefanutti Stocks Geotechnical, tel +27 11 571 4300, fax +27 11 393 3150 or email geotech@stefstocks.com.
Steloy Castings, tel +27 13 933 3331, fax +27 13 933 3653 or email info@steloy.com.
Sulzer Pumps South Africa, tel +27 11 820 6252 or fax +27 11 820 6205.
UE, tel +27 13 752 4932, fax +27 13 752 4952 or email nelspruit@urban-econ.com.
University of the Free State strategic communication chief officer Leonie Bolleurs, tel +27 51 401 2707.
WBHO Construction, tel +27 11 321 7200, fax +27 11 887 4364 or email wbhoho@wbho.co.za.
Konecranes, tel +27 11 864 2800.