by Peter Middleton, Crown Publications
Crown Publications editor, Peter Middleton, talks to ABB South Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Leon Viljoen.
Published in:
Electricity+Control, May 2016 (pages 20 – 23)
Enquiries: Email peterm@crown.co.za
Peter Middleton, talks to ABB South Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Leon Viljoen who says that Kusile is ABB’s flagship project at the moment and that is ‘going extremely well’. Having been awarded the Control and Instrumentation (C&I) project for all six units of the Kusile Power Station in South Africa in March 2015, ABB has successfully conducted the Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) that were proving impossible for the original contractor just 18 months ago.
“Eskom re-issued tenders for the Medupi and Kusile C&I at the end of 2014 and ABB won the Kusile C&I contract. “Given the lost time, the C&I is now on the critical path for Unit 1 and Balance of Plant (eBoP) of the power station, so considerable effort was put in to meet the deadlines. So we are very pleased that the FATs were successfully completed during November and December last year,” says Viljoen.
“Internationally, ABB is Number One in C&I. We are unique in this field in that we don’t manufacture the mechanical equipment such as boilers and turbines, so we have the ability and experience to customise control solutions that are robust and flexible, regardless of which OEM’s equipment it involved,” he suggests.
Take note
- ABB won the Control and Instrumentation (C&I) contract for Kusile Power Station after the tenders were re-issued by Eskom at the end of 2014.
- Factor Acceptance Tests (FATs) were successfully completed in November and December 2015.
- The C&I is currently on a critical path for Unit 1 and electrical Balance of Plant (eBOP) of the power station.
Read the full article on C&I project for six units of South Africa’s Kusile Power Station in PDF format.
