Eskom announced at end July that Unit 1, the last of six generation units at the Medupi Power Station Project in Lephalale, Limpopo, attained commercial operation status and was handed over to the Generation Division. While there is more work to be done on project, Eskom reports that this milestone marks the completion of all building activities on the 4 764 MW project. Construction of the facility began in May 2007 – and encountered persistent delays. The planned operational life of the coal-fired power station is 50 years.
Bheki Nxumalo, Group Executive for Eskom’s Group Capital Division said, “This is an investment that will serve generations of the people of South Africa and power the economy for at least the next half-century.”
All six units at the Medupi Power Station have now reached commercial operation status.
Reaching commercial operation status means technical compliance to all statutory, safety and legal requirements has been met. The last unit was officially declared commercial after the completion of the unit optimisation, control demonstration, and the 72-hour and 30-day reliability runs, which put all performance guarantees into effect. Unit 1 was first synchronised to the national grid on 27 August 2019 and reached the full load of 794 MW on 5 December 2019. During the testing and optimisation phase, Unit 1 contributed intermittent power to the country’s electricity supply.
It was in August 2015 that the first unit at Medupi, Unit 6, reached commercial operation status. Over the following six years four other units were built and brought to commercial status, against a background of steeply escalating costs and reports of design inadequacies and poor quality, but they do provide electricity to the national grid.
The Medupi Power Station is reportedly the fourth largest coal-fired plant and the largest dry-cooled power station in the world. It uses direct dry-cooling systems, due to the water scarcity in the Lephalale area. The power plant incorporates critical technology, which is able to operate at higher temperatures than Eskom’s earlier generation of boilers and turbines. Importantly, the technology enables the power plant to operate with greater efficiency, resulting in better use of natural resources such as water and coal, and to achieve improved environmental performance.
In this regard, the installation of flue gas desulphurisation equipment and other measures to limit air pollution from the burning of coal are still to be implemented.
At its peak during construction, the Medupi project directly employed more than 18 000 people in building activities and another 2 000 supporting employees on site. The capital cost of the project is R122 billion to date and Eskom expects to spend a total of R135 billion once the balance of plant is completed.
During construction of the project, Eskom and its contractors worked with the nearby communities, training more than 4 600 artisans, technicians, engineers and managers. The utility has also invested more than R2.9 billion in socio-economic development initiatives to address some of the immediate social needs of the local communities. More than R145 million was spent on corporate social investment, focusing on rural development, education and health infrastructure and benefitting some 80 000 people.
Nxumalo said, “The remaining work to be completed on the Medupi project entails implementing the agreed technical solutions related to the boiler design defects on the balance of plant. Once these repairs are completed, through the next 24 months, Medupi will deliver power reliably to the national grid at full capacity, helping increase energy security for the country.”
For more information visit: www.eskom.co.za
