Structural steel fabricator and erector Cosira is using its own developed state-of the-art proprietary software program, called Magellan, to track and trace the progress at the Medupi power station, the company reports.

The tracking and tracing covers detailing to fabrication, corrosion protection and eventual installation on site.

Cosira Group was awarded the turbine hall contract for power utility Eskom’s Medupi power station, managed by international power technology group Alstom in the latter half of 2008. Cosira’s work on this multimillion-rand contract, comprises 12 000 t of steelwork and site construction started in mid-2009.

“This proprietary software program will ensure that we have the right quantities available on site at all times. Cosira’s quality management system allows us to handle big plate girder components on the project, as well as to effectively identify and track each and every component back to the factory and the originating mill,” says Cosira Group commercial and risk director Richard De Arruda.

He adds: “Alstom and the end customer, Eskom, have stringent safety standards that must be adhered to on site, and we believe that we are up to meeting their expectations in this regard. Cosira embraces the goal of zero harm in terms of safety, health and environmental issues and strives to go beyond compliance with regulations. So, we believe that we will be able to accomplish the rules of safety with ease.”

“This project represents a milestone in Cosira’s history and we hope to become more involved in power generation contracts around South Africa in the future,” says Cosira Group CEO John da Silva.

“This is the largest single contract awarded to Cosira to date. It is also a landmark achievement for the group in terms of being the first contract awarded to the group in the power generation sector and we are proud to be part of a project that will contribute significantly to future power generation in Southern Africa,” he says.

Cosira is supplying the structural steel for the six units of the turbine halls. There is also a crane building and some intermediate platforms under construction and it will be responsible for detailed shop drawings, fabrication, corrosion protection, installation and cladding.

“In total, the turbine hall project will require 12 000 t of structural steel, with each unit or turbine hall requiring about 2 000 t. The footprint of each unit is 37 m wide and 110 m in length. The large components will be about 10 t apiece,” says De Arruda.

“For the group to meet the overall construction programme, two turbine halls are required to be executed concurrently, though in different phases. The constrained working areas also mean that Cosira has to carry out the installation from one side of the building only. The order of installation will run from turbine hall six through to one, with many intermediate handovers to accommodate the overall civil, mechanical and electrical disciplines,” says De Arruda.

Cosira has bought two 275-t crawler cranes for the project in order to overcome the limited access and time constraints of the overall project. Intermediate cranes include two 100-t hydraulic cranes to be used for construction support.

Cosira is working to a just-in-time (JIT) delivery methodology on site, providing steel on demand as the project progresses. The manufacture and fabrication process will be carried out in phases, with batches of steel erected on a JIT basis.