Kusile Power Station

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Kusile Power Station
Kusilekragsentrale, Mpumalanga, 2019, a.jpg
Kusile seen from the N4 freeway in 2019
Kusile Power Station
Country South Africa
Location Witbank, Emalahleni Local Municipality, Mpumalanga
Coordinates 25°54′59″S28°55′02″E / 25.91639°S 28.91722°E / -25.91639; 28.91722
StatusUnder construction
Construction began2008
Construction costUS$ 8,700,000,000
Owner(s) Eskom
Operator(s)Eskom
Thermal power station
Primary fuel Coal
Power generation
Units operational5 × 800 MW
Units under const.1 x 800 MW
Nameplate capacity 4,000 MW
Capacity factor 66.6 percent
External links
Commons Related media on Commons
[ edit on Wikidata]

Kusile Power Station (previously known as Project Bravo) in South Africa is a coal-fired power plant by state electricity utility Eskom in Mpumalanga. The station consists of 6 generating units with an eventual nameplate capacity of 800 MW each bringing the total installed capacity of 4,800 MW; as of 2023, only 5 units are in operation.

Contents

Location

Located about 15 kilometres north of the existing Kendal Power Station near Witbank, Mpumalanga.

Concept

Kusile Power Station is designed to consist of six 800 megawatt coal-fired generating units for a total generating capacity of 4,800 megawatts. [1] In 2023 the realistic sustainable output per unit was however projected to be some 350 megawatt. [2]

As of December 2023, Unit 5 was synchronized to the national grid. Following a six-month period of "testing and optimization", the unit's output will be commercially commissioned and bring total station output to 4,000 MW. Kusile would be the first coal power station in Eskom's fleet to be fitted with flue gas desulphurization technology. [3]

Project engineer

Black and Veatch was appointed as the project engineer for construction.

Main equipment suppliers

Alstom provided the steam turbines, whilst Hitachi would provide the super critical boilers.

Coal supply

The power utility, Eskom stated that it "will obtain most of the coal required for this Power Station from Anglo Coal's New Largo operations, south east of the Kusile Power Station." [4]

Eskom's consultants estimate that 35 new coal mines will be required to support the Medupi and Kusile plants. [5]

Construction timeline

Construction started in August 2008, months after the first of South Africa's rolling blackouts in January 2008. [6]

Initially expected to take 6 years to complete, the project completed Unit 1 until 2017 (approximately 8 years after initial works began) and the entire project not until 2021. [7]

Delays and defects

Deficient project management, corruption, labour disputes, vandalism and absenteeism resulted in low operational efficiency and reliability which periodically stalled the generation of electricity 15 years after its construction began. [2]

The dates for full commercial operation were shifted numerous times mostly due to:

This resulted in Kusile and Medupi considered as some of the worst-performing units in Eskom's fleet. [22] In February 2019, Eskom GM for group technology Titus Mathe reported R8 billion would be needed to fix design defects at Medupi and Kusile. [26]

Critics

The building of this power station attracted various criticism.

Interference

Hitachi Power Africa, a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., found by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to have made US$6 million in corrupt payments to Chancellor House, a front company for the African National Congress, the ruling political party in South Africa. [27] Hitachi agreed to pay US$19 million to settle charges. [27] Hitachi Power Africa rebranded as Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa in February 2014. [28]

Cost

Kusile Power Station is estimated to cost R118 billion to complete. [7] This will bring the cost per unit to R19.66bn ($1.34bn) per generating unit, equalling R26.96M ($1.67M) per installed MW.

Financial institution support

The following institutions were involved in supporting the project: [29]

Emissions

The plant is expected to emit est 36.8 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year once completed. [30]

In November 2011, Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a gate and climbed a crane, a few weeks before the country hosted a global conference on climate change. Authorities arrested nine people, on charges of trespassing and malicious damage to property. [31]

The design of the station does allow for the installation of flue gas desulphurization technology, the first of its kind in South Africa.

Inquiry

By 2018, the governments Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced a forensic probe into delays and cost overruns on the completion of Kusile and Medupi Control Stations. [32]

Corruption controversy

In November 2019 South African investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh published an article in the Daily Maverick detailing an alleged slush fund corruption scandal involving Eskom executives and at least four contractors. [33] The scandal involved contracts worth a combined R10 billion resulting in an estimated R75 million being lost due to irregular activities. [33] By the time of the publication of Myburgh's article the construction of Kusile was five years past its original completion date and an estimated R80 billion (equivalent to US$5.4 billion) over budget. [33]

In Dec 2022, ABB was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in a bribery scheme, where it paid more than $37 million in bribes to a high-ranking Eskom official to influence a $160 million contract awarded by the state-owned electric utility company for work on Kusile's cabling and installation work between 2014 and 2017. [34]

See also

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Kusile Power Station at Wikimedia Commons

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References

  1. ↑ Terence Creamer, "Eskom begins standing its ground, but regaining credibility will be tough", Engineering News, June 6, 2008.
  2. 1 2 "No power from Kusile after R233 billion and 15 years of construction". Energy. dailyinvestor.com. Daily Investor. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  3. 1 2 SAGNA (2 January 2024). "South Africa: Kusile Unit 5 Synchronised to the Grid" (via AllAfrica.com). South African Government News Agency (SAGNA). Cape Town, South Africa. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Eskom Holdings Ltd, "Second Key Stakeholder Meeting between Eskom and Topigs SA" [ permanent dead link ], August 19, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Move Beyond Coal, Now!: Voices from the Front Lines of the Global Struggle" Archived 2013-05-23 at the Wayback Machine Sierra Club report, Sep. 2011.
  6. ↑ "Thabo Mbeki's explosive allegations about Eskom and load-shedding". Energy. dailyinvestor.com. Daily Investor. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Worker killed at Kusile Power Station". SABC. 2015-09-15.
  8. ↑ Eskom, New Build News Archived 2013-06-16 at archive.today , November 2007.
  9. 1 2 "Eskom Announces Major Contracts for Bravo Project" Archived 2008-04-12 at the Wayback Machine , Media Release, February 29, 2008.
  10. ↑ "South African Coal Plant Wins U.S. Backing Over Environmentalist Protests" Mark Drajem, Bloomberg, April 14, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Ex-Im Bank Gives Preliminary Approval For $800M Loan To South Africa Power Plant" Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Kusile unit 1 goes on full load". www.eskom.co.za. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  13. ↑ "New Kusile unit produces power eight months ahead of schedule". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
  14. ↑ greenbuildingafrica.co.za
  15. ↑ "Kusile Unit 3 achieves commercial operation, bringing half the project to completion". Eskom. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  16. ↑ "Kusile Unit 4 synchronised to the national grid for the first time, helping to ease the capacity constraints". Eskom. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  17. ↑ "Finally: Kusile Unit 4 connected to grid for first time, helping to ease power crunch". Fin24. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  18. ↑ "Fourth Kusile unit enters commercial operation" . Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  19. ↑ "Kusile strikers caused R100m in damage - Minister - DOCUMENTS | Politicsweb".
  20. ↑ "News".
  21. ↑ "Eskom investigating cause of fire at Kusile power station". www.timeslive.co.za. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Donnelly, Lynley (15 February 2019). "Medupi and Kusile: Costly and faulty". The M&G Online. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  23. ↑ "Eskom needs big money to fix Kusile's chimney to cut load-shedding". The M&G Online. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  24. ↑ "Why Kusile power station's chimney broke". mybroadband.co.za. Mybroadband. 6 November 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Kusile Power Station Project, South Africa". Power Technology. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  26. ↑ "Kusile and Medupi were destined to fail from the start". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  27. 1 2 "DA Laying Charges Over Hitachi Payment to ANC 'Front' for Medupi, Kusile Contracts". Times Live. 2015-09-29.
  28. ↑ "Eskom and the multi-billion rand mega projects that could have saved SA". Fin24. 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  29. ↑ "Kusile Coal Power Plant in South Africa". BankTrack. 28 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-06. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  30. ↑ Andreas Spath, "US To Finance Dirty Coal Power In South Africa" Care 2 Care, May 30, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Greenpeace protests South African coal-fired power station; police arrest 9" [ dead link ] Washington Post, November 6, 2011.
  32. ↑ Khumalo, Sibongile (2018-12-06). "Eskom opens forensic probe into Medupi, Kusile". Fin24. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
  33. 1 2 3 Myburgh, Pieter-Louis (26 November 2019). "SCORPIO: Top Eskom contractors in fresh R75m Kusile slush fund scandal". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  34. ↑ "SEC.gov | ABB Settles SEC Charges That It Engaged in Bribery Scheme in South Africa". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
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