Kusile hit by talk of construction cutback

22 March 2015 - 02:00 By TINA WEAVIND
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Eskom's National Grid Pylons carrying SA's electricity buzz & hum at sunset outside Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. File photo.
Eskom's National Grid Pylons carrying SA's electricity buzz & hum at sunset outside Koeberg Nuclear Power Station. File photo.
Image: ESA ALEXANDER /©SUNDAY TIMES

Parts of the Kusile power station being built in Mpumalanga may now be shelved, according to people involved in the project estimated at R120-billion.

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa spokesman Stephen Nhlapo said this week the union had been expecting to be told the news soon. "We saw it coming."

Nhlapo said orders for construction materials for units 2 and 3 - two of the six units that will each provide 800megawatts - were starting to "scale down".

He said workers believed the focus would move to Medupi, where more work had been done.

On Friday, Eskom announced it was letting Alstom off its contract to supply the Control and Instrumentation (C&I) for Kusile effective next month. It has appointed ABB South Africa to do the work.

However, Alstom isn't off the hook for the fact that part of the critical C&I element - referred to as the brain of a power plant - at Medupi is substandard and had to be handed over to Siemens last year. The part related to the Boiler protection System.

Former Eskom CEO Brian Dames said at the time that "Alstom is accountable to deliver the C&I system for us ... we will make sure that we are protected ... in terms of our risk and the cost".

Eskom said the terms of the agreement to terminate Alstom's contract at Kusile were confidential.

A spokesman for Alstom said the company had not been officially informed that part of Kusile would be shelved, but the suggestion was not new.

"This is something they have [said before], then they say 'no', so maybe they [will] come back to it," he said.

Three contractors working on Kusile said last month that there was "no question" Kusile would be stalled. "They've got to, there's no doubt. They don't have any money to keep going," said one contractor.

The Department of Public Enterprises referred all queries to Eskom. The utility avoided directly commenting on the possibility of shelving some of Kusile's units. This was despite Eskom denying the suggestion a few weeks before its top four executives were suspended.

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