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Medupi power station project, South Africa

28th November 2014

  

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Name and Location
Medupi power station project, Limpopo, South Africa.

Client
Eskom.

Project Description
Medupi is located on an 883 ha site in Lephalale, Limpopo.  It will be a dry-cooled coal-fired, baseload power-generating plant, comprising six 800 MW units, with a 4 800 MW installed capacity. It will be the fourth-largest coal plant in the southern hemisphere and the biggest of its kind with dry cooling in the world.

The planned operational life of the station is 50 years.

The power station will use high-tech supercritical boilers, which will operate at higher temperatures and pressures than older boilers, thereby providing greater efficiency.

It is the first baseload coal-fired station to be built in South Africa in more than 20 years and its delivery on schedule is viewed as critical.

The project is unique because Medupi is being built backwards – traditionally Eskom has always started building Unit 1 and ended with Unit 6. This new approach is the result of the rock conglomeration on the southern side, which is excavated and reused as the engineering fill on the northern side.

The project will form part of the utility's integrated strategic electricity plan and is designed to be flue-gas desulphurisation ready.

Value
The cost of the project has increased from R91.2-billion to R105-billion.

Duration
Construction activities started in May 2007.  The first unit, Unit 6, will be synchronised to the grid in the second half of 2014.

Latest Developments
Eskom has confirmed a likely further, albeit modest, slippage in the schedule for first synchronisation of Medupi Unit 6.

The delay is the latest in several to afflict the project, which has faced numerous technical problems and labour disruptions. Originally, Eskom expected to synchronise Unit 6 in 2011, before shifting the date initially to the end of 2013, and then to the second half of 2014, and now to early 2015.

The State-owned company is still hoping to synchronise the 794 MW unit – the first of six at the 4 764 MW Limpopo megaproject – before the end of 2014. However, it has indicated that several presynchronisation processes are still required, which may postpone the milestone to the second week of January.

Medupi project GM Roman Crookes insists that the delay will not have a material impact on the ramp-up of the unit to full commercial operations, which is still scheduled for the end of March, with handover to Eskom Generation by June.

There are eight process steps from hydropressure testing, which was conducted in May, to first synchronisation – a process whereby the generator in the unit is electrically connected to the power grid. Following first power, it takes several months for a unit to ramp up to full and stable power.

Crookes says five of the key milestones – the hydrotests, the boiler chemical cleaning, the turbine barring, the draught group test run and first fires – have been completed, with a boiler blow-through campaign currently under way. Thereafter, pipes need to be reconnected to enable the unit to move to the next ‘turbine-steam-to-set’ milestone, which occurs just ahead of fist synchronisation.

The master schedule indicates that the processes will require more days than are left in the calendar year to complete, hence the delay of synchronisation to January.

The master schedule is being updated continuously as schedule improvements (or delays) arise and Crookes says there is a strong focus on “scavenging time” where such solutions do not compromise either the integrity of the unit or safety on site.

Eskom executive for group capital Dan Marokane says lessons being learned on Unit 6 will change the way subsequent units at Medupi and the 4 800 MW Kusile project are commissioned. This, he acknowledges, will have cost implications, which are still being calculated.

Besides confirming, in 2013, a delay to the commissioning of the first Medupi unit to the second half of 2014, the budget for the coal-fired power station was also revised upwards from R91.2-billion to R105-billion, excluding interest during construction. A revised cost-to-completion figure is expected to be released before the end of the year.

Also yet to be finalised is the commissioning intervals for the 11 other units at Medupi and Kusile, with Marokane explaining that the plan is to first integrate the experiences gained on accelerating project progress at Medupi Unit 6 before firming up what that will mean for the interval schedule.

He dismisses suggestions that there could be as much as a two-and-a-half-year interval between the commissioning of units 6 and 5 at Medupi and indicates that it is working closely with the main contractors to assess whether Medupi Unit 5 could be synchronised 12 months after Unit 6.

“We will have a far better feel of where things are going in January,” Marokane says, adding that “school fees” have been paid on Unit 6 and those lesson need to be incorporated across the 11 subsequent units.

“Nothing is sacrosanct,” he stresses, adding that discussions are ongoing with contractors to transform the execution model to ensure that the intervals between units are shortened.

Current estimates are for the interval between Medupi Unit 6 and Unit 5 to be about a year, with Kusile Unit 1 being brought on simultaneously with Medupi Unit 5.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Main packages:
Parsons Brinckerhoff (execution partner); Roshcon (enabling civils); Rula Bulk Materials Handling (coal overland conveyor and ash dump conveyor); Hitachi Power Africa, or HPA (boiler); Alstom S&E Africa (turbine); LP Services consortium (engineering, procurement and construction contract for the low-pressure services); Ovivo Aqua SA (water treatment plant); Karrena-Concor joint venture, or JV (chimneys and silos); MPS JV (main civils); Actom (electrical power installation); General Electric (low-voltage switchgear system); Actom (medium-voltage switchgear); Siemens (auxiliary transformers and generator transformers); Standby Systems (UPS); Alstom C&I (control and instrumentation); Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions South Africa (condition-based maintenance systems); T-Systems (information technology (IT) and IT infrastructure); Siemens ACI Open Consortium (laboratory and analysers); Civcon/G4 JV (miscellaneous infrastructure and reservoirs); Basil Read (buildings Phase 2, ash dump infrastructure and clarifiers); NCI (diesel generators); ThyssenKrupp Materials Handling (coal stockyard equipment); Clyde Bergemann Africa (dust handling and conditioning systems); ELB Engineering Services (terrace coal and ash); Aveng Grinaker-LTA (buildings phases 1 and 3) and Tubular (supply and erection of conveyors).

Other:
Energy Engineered Products (supply of high-performance alloy, stainless steel valves, pipes, fittings and flanges) and Turnmill Proquip Engineering (fabrication of substation steelwork and construction of the exhaust-steam ducting).

On Budget and on Time?
It is well behind schedule and over budget, owing to a combination of labour strife, problems with boiler welds and the control and instrumentation system.

Contact Details for Project Information
Eskom project manager Roman Crookes, email roman.crookes@eskom.co.za.
Eskom media desk, email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.

Main packages:
Parsons Brinckerhoff, tel +27 11 787 4141, fax +27 11 886 0359 or email project@pbworld.com.
Roshcon, tel +27 11 629 8000 or fax +27 11 626 3460.
Rula Bulk Materials Handling, tel +27 11 795 1040, fax +27 11 795 1004 or email info@rula.co.za.
Ovivo Aqua SA, tel +27 11 886 0266.
Actom, tel +27 11 820 5111 or fax +27 11 820 5100.
GE corporate investor communications, tel +1 203 373 2460.
Siemens, tel +27 11 652 2000 or fax +27 11 652 2711.
Standby Systems, tel +27 861 782 632, fax +27 11 794 3598 or email standbypower@mweb.co.za.
Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions South Africa, tel +27 11 695 8000 or fax +27 11 805 1554.
Civcon/G4 JV, tel  +27 11 206 9660, fax +27 11 316 6604 or email info@civcon.co.za; tel +27 11 396 1793, fax +27 11 396 2344 or email info@g4.co.za.
Basil Read, tel +27 11 418 6300 or fax +27 11 418 6333.
NCI, tel +27 21 553 8840, fax +27 21 553 8841 or email info@nci-sa.co.za.
ThyssenKrupp Materials Handling, tel +27 11 236 1000, fax +27 11 236 1235 or email info.tkmh@thyssenkrupp.com.
Clyde Bergemann Africa, tel +2 7 11 704 0580, fax +27 11 704 0597 or email enquiry@cbz.co.za.
ELB Engineering Services, tel +27 11 772 1400, fax +27 11 325 6680 or email sales@elb.co.za.
Aveng Grinaker-LTA, tel +27 11 578 6000 or fax +27 11 578 6161.

Other contractors:
a.b.e. Construction Chemicals, tel +27 11 306 9000.
Afrimat investor and corporate relations, tel +27 11 325 5944 or fax +27 11 325 5942.
BKS Group, tel +27 12 421 3500, fax +27 12 421 3501 or email group@bks.co.za.
DSE Structural Engineers & Contractors, tel +27 11 871 4111, fax +27 11 871 4141 or email dse@grinaker-lta.co.za.
Exxaro Resources, tel +27 12 307 4189.
GEA Aircooled Systems, tel +27 11 861 1521.
Genrec Engineering, tel +27 11 876 2300, fax +27 11 827 1733 or email sales@genreceng.co.za.
Hansen Transmissions, tel +27 11 571 9611.
HPA, 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.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Europe, tel +49 203 80 38 0 or fax +49 203 80 38 1809.
Kwikspace, tel +27 11 903 8993 or email barney@kwikspace.co.za.
IWC, tel +27 11 466 0699, fax +27 11 466 8180 or email mail@iwc.co.za.
Lesedi Nuclear Services, tel +27 21 525 1300 or fax +27 21 525 1333.
Mikropul, tel +27 478 0456, fax +27 478 0371 or email sales@mikropul.co.za.
Murray & Roberts, tel +27 11 723 2080.
Royal HaskoningDHV, tel +27 11 798 6000, fax +27 11 798 6005 or email corporate@rhdhv.com.
Sarens, tel +27 11 861 3800, fax +27 11 861 3899 or email info@sarenssa.co.za.
SSD, tel +27 11 828 0439 or fax +27 11 828 2810.
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.
TKMH, tel +27 11 236 1000 or fax +27 11 236 1235.
Tubular, tel +27 11 553 2000, fax +27 11 450 2160 or email th@tubular.co.za.
Voith Turbo, tel +27 11 418 4076 or fax +27 11 418 4059.
Wetback Contracts, tel +27 11 392 8000, fax +27 11 392 5856 or email info@wetback.co.za.
Lighting Structures, tel +27 87 310 1000 or fax +27 86 699 6999.
Konecranes, tel +27 11 864 2800.
Wade Walker, tel +27 11 466 0377.
Energy Engineered Products, tel  +27 11 466 1926 or fax +27 11 466 1692.
Turnmill Proquip Engineering, tel +27 16 986 0030 or fax +27 16 986 0127.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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