Photo by: Duane Daws
South African power provider Eskom has invited applications from suitably qualified contractors to tender for the construction of the 400 kV Vulcan bypass transmission line, in Mpumalanga.
The upgraded line, on which construction was expected to start in February 2014, would increase transmission capacity and link the Kusile coal-fired power station to the national grid, senior procurement adviser Londiwe Zulu told Engineering News Online on Monday.
The parastatal outlined in tender documents that the scope of work would include the looping in of the existing 400 kV high-voltage Kendal–Duvha power line to the existing 400 kV Arnot–Vulcan line, as well as the construction of a substation, Duvha–Vulcan No 2, to form a new feeder out of the existing Vulcan substation.
This would result in a new transmission line that bypassed the Vulcan substation.
In addition, the tender called for the dismantling of redundant structures and the labelling and relabelling of new and existing structures for the resultant line.
The proposed contract would also include the upgrade of existing roads; the design and installation of concrete tower foundations; the stringing and regulation of earth conductors and Dinosaur aluminium conductor steel reinforced phase conductors; and the commissioning of the new line.
Tender submissions, which would be assessed according to the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act, would close on October 31.