New technical issues at Eskom’s Medupi power station could place South Africa’s power supply at risk, says energy expert Chris Yelland.<\/p>\n
Eskom had intitially set a deadline for one of the units of the much-delayed Medupi power plant to come online by 24 December – offering an additional 800MW to the national grid – but the plan was once again postponed.<\/p>\n
Medupi, which started construction in 2007, was first set to come online in mid-2013, after a number of technical, labour and manufacturing issues hampered progress.<\/p>\n
Now new problems have arisen, which are preventing Eskom from conducting the proper “by the book” tests, and may threaten the operation, Yelland said.<\/p>\n
“Problems have made it impossible for Eskom to conduct blow-through testing of the first Hitachi boiler at Medupi at the steam speed, volume and turbulence factor required in the international VGB guidelines and contract specifications,” the energy expert said.<\/p>\n
The tests are intended to simulate full-load conditions, and are conducted over several week until standards are met; however, due to temporary piping problems, Eskom has been unable to achieve this.<\/p>\n
“As a result, and despite earlier assurances that commissioning of Unit 6 at Medupi would proceed by the book, the Eskom technical team has now decided to abandon further blow-through testing and proceed with the connection of the final steam piping,” Yelland said.<\/p>\n
According to Medupi Project Manager Roman Crookes, replacing the temporary system with the correctly designed one would cost millions, and would take six months to replace, further delaying the first synchronisation of Unit 6.<\/p>\n
Eskom, meanwhile, has denied any significant risk resulting from abandoning the blow-through testing, adding it took the decision after a “thorough risk evaluation”.<\/p>\n
The power utility said it could handle any possible risk that may result from abandoning the testing.<\/p>\n
Detailed explanation on the issue can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Load shedding risk is high: Eskom<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on Eskom<\/h3>\n