State-owned electricity producer Eskom has released a pre-qualification enquiry for the reconstruction of the Majuba power station’s coal silo 20, which collapsed on November 1 last year, resulting in immediate load-shedding and increasing system tightness during the high-maintenance summer months.
Output at the plant fell from around 3 600 MW on November 1 to 600 MW on November 2 following the collapse of the central coal silo, which led to a breakdown in the handling systems carrying coal to the plant’s six units.
Eskom had subsequently implemented various temporary and interim solutions, which had enabled it to recover output to around 3 800 MW by winter – the coal-fired power station has a nameplate capacity of 4 100 MW.
The utility indicated that it was aiming to award the contract by December 1, 2015, and that that contractors should be in a position to hand over the project by October 31, 2016.
Besides the rebuilding of silo 20, the contract would also involve the reinforcement of silos 10 and 30 and the reinstatement of the coal conveyor system.
The conceptual design information and documentation for the “permanent solution” were provided with the enquiry, which had been designed to prequalify contractors in advance of a formal tender process.
A compulsory site meeting had been scheduled for 10:00 on July 23 at the Majuba power station, in Mpumalanga, and the closing date for the pre-qualification was set at 10:00 on August 17.