South Africa's Coal-Fired Kusile Power Station to be Operational by the End of 2013

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The first unit of the 4800-megawatt (MW) Kusile power station, which is being built by South Africa's state-owned Eskom Holdings Limited (Johannesburg), is scheduled to begin commercial operation by 2013, with further units being commissioned at eight-month intervals. The last unit is expected to be connected to the national grid by 2017. Construction of the new facility, one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world, started in August 2008 and will cost more than $8 billion.

The 4800-MW power plant will consist of six generating units, each producing approximately 803 MW. Alstom S&E Africa (Pty) Limited, a subsidiary of Alstom S.A. (EPA:ALO) (Levallois-Perret, France), will deliver the six steam turbines while Hitachi Power Africa (Pty) Limited and Hitachi Power Europe GmbH, subsidiaries of Hitachi Limited (NYSE:HIT) has been awarded the contract to supply the boilers. Eskom is in partnership with Black & Veatch (Kansas City, Missouri), a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, in charge of the project management, engineering services and construction of the Kusile Power Station.

The facility will be located close to the existing Kendal Power Station, also owned by Eskom, near the town of Witbank in the Mpumalanga province. It will be the first power station in South Africa to have flue-gas desulfurization units installed, a state-of-the-art technology that is used to remove oxides of sulphur, including sulphur dioxide, from the exhaust flue gases in coal-fired power plants, ensuring compliance with air quality standards.

Eskom Holdings Limited produces 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and 60% of the total electricity consumed on the African Continent.

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