Eskom contractor Alstom on Thursday said it had successfully completed a site integration test (SIT) at the parastatal’s delayed Medupi power station, in Limpopo, further advancing the project towards its December target date for synchronisation.
The SIT validated and verified the distributed control system (DCS) installed by Alstom, certifying that it was ready for first fire and synchronisation and confirmed that the DCS, which played a key role in the safe and reliable operation of the plant, was performing according to requirements.
This endorsed the commissioning of the plant’s first unit in December.
The SIT involved over 100 tests and inspections and was carried out once the system had been installed on site.
It involved 70 000 hardwired inputs and outputs, including the connection of the control room workstation to the local area network and central storage and control of the system software as well as the demonstration of the DCS ability to carry out fault finding.
It also comprised database access by an Eskom personal computer with Microsoft-based applications, the verification of redundancies in the DCS systems and subsystems and the verification of system interfaces.
Alstom project director Rafael Alvarez said the success of the test was a multinational team effort.
“We drew on expertise from Alstom employees around the world to solve challenges and to deliver for our customer,” he commented, adding that the teams on site were comprised of personnel from South Africa, France, Philippines, India, the UK, Poland, Egypt, Ukraine and Malaysia.
Alstom’s contract at Medupi included the supply, installation and commissioning of the turbine island and the plant control system.