Name of the Project
Medupi power station project.

Location
Medupi is located on an 883 ha site in Lephalale, Limpopo, in South Africa.

Project Owner/s
State-owned power utility Eskom.

Project Description
Medupi will be the fourth-largest coal-fired power plant and the largest dry-cooled power station in the world. The power station will comprise six units with an installed capacity of 4 764 MW.

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, compared with that of older boilers, thereby providing greater efficiency. Supercritical technology will result in more efficient use of natural resources, such as water and coal, and will have improved environmental performance and footprint.

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

The project is somewhat unique because Medupi is being built in reverse order – traditionally Eskom has always started building Unit 1 and ended with Unit 6. This new approach is the result of the rock agglomeration on the southern side of the site, which was excavated and reused for engineering fill on the northern side.

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

Potential Job Creation
About 18 000 construction contractor employees and 2 000 supporting staff were employed at the peak of construction.

Capital Expenditure
In July 2016, Eskom officially updated its cost-to-completion estimates for Medupi. The State-owned utility reported that Medupi was now expected to cost R145-billion, rather than the earlier revised estimate of R105-billion.

The cumulative cost incurred on the project for the year ended March 31, 2019, was not available at the time of going to print.

Planned Start /End Date
Construction activities started in May 2007. The power station is expected to have reached full installed capacity by 2020.

The first unit, Unit 6, was synchronised to the grid on March 2, 2015. It attained full power (796 MW) on May 26, 2015, and attained commercial operation on August 23, 2015.

Unit 5 was first synchronised to the national grid on September 8, 2016. It reached full power (796 MW) on  December 17, 2016, and attained commercial operation on  April 3, 2017.

Unit 4 was first synchronised to the national grid on  May 31, 2017. It reached full power (796 MW) on June 19, 2017, and attained commercial operation on November 28, 2017.

Unit 3 was first synchronised to the national grid on  April 8, 2018. It reached full power on (796 MW) May 16, 2018, and attained commercial operation on June 28, 2019. 

Unit 2 reached full power on November 12, 2018, and was synchronised to the national grid on October 7, 2018.

Latest Developments
Eskom has announced that Unit 3 at its Medupi power station has attained commercial operation status. The unit was officially declared commercial after the completion of the unit optimisation and control demonstration, as well as the 72 hours and the 30-day reliability runs, putting all performance guarantees to effect. 

Unit 3 reached full load (796 MW) on May 16, 2018, and was first synchronised to the national grid on April 8,  2018. Unit 3 joins units 6, 5 and 4, which have been commercially contributing electricity to the national grid since  August 23, 2015, April 3, 2017, and November 28, 2017, respectively.

Commercial operation status ensures technical compliance to statutory, safety and legal requirements. This signatory milestone marks the contractual handover of the unit from the principal contractors to Eskom. 

Unit 3 is distinctively different in that it is the first of the last three units supported by the auxiliary plant systems from the northern side of the site, as well as the new control and instrumentation system. These, as well as the new interfaces, resulted in significant challenges, different from those of the first three units. During the testing and optimisation phase, Unit 3 was delivering power intermittently and contributing to the country’s electricity supply.  

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Principal Contracts:
Parsons Brinckerhoff (execution partner); Roshcon (enabling civils); Rula Bulk Materials Handling (coal overland conveyor and ash dump conveyor); Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa, or MHMPSA (boiler); Alstom S&E Africa (turbine); LP Services consortium (low-pressure services); Alula Water (water treatment plant); Karrena-Concor joint venture, or JV (chimneys and silos); MPS JV (main civils); Actom (electrical power installation and medium-voltage switchgear); General Electric (low-voltage switchgear system); Siemens (auxiliary transformers and generator transformers); Standby Systems (uninterruptible power supply); Alstom C&I (control and instrumentation); Honeywell Automation & Control Solutions South Africa (fire detection and access control); 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, ash dump infrastructure, clarifiers and coal stock yard extension); 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); Nugen Technologies (Pty) Ltd (nitrogen); Stefanutti Stocks/Mathomamayo JV (raw water pumpstation and substation) and Exxaro (coal supply).

On Budget and on Time?
The project has been affected by technical and labour difficulties. However, measures have been put in place to accelerate progress on the project. This has been evident through the latest achievements of the project milestones as per the project plan.

Contact Details for Project Information
Eskom media desk, email mediadesk@eskom.co.za.