Mandate

Optimally operate and maintain Eskom’s local non-nuclear electricity generating assets over their full plant lifecycle.

The Generation Coal and Peaking division operates 26 power stations:

• 13 coal-fired power stations
• 4 gas/liquid fuel turbine stations
• 6 hydro-electric stations
• 2 pumped-storage stations
• 1 wind energy station.

Highlights	Future priorities
Water utilisation across the fleet of power stations is within target The integrated Generation control centre (IGCC) was successfully commissioned to centrally monitor the production output of all power stations Lost-time injuries improved by 28% compared to previous year Matimba, Hendrina and Generation environmental head office have successfully completed their respective phase 2 ISO 14001: 2004 audits The first annual environmental practitioner awards were held Gaseous emission monitoring systems measuring SO2, NOx and CO2 were installed on one unit/stack of each coal-fired power station.	Increased operational efficiency in Generation and the implementation of the operational excellence programme for management and operation of existing power stations ISO 9001 (quality) certification for all Generation business units. Compliance with and, where appropriate, certification to ISO 14001 (environmental management standards) Improve particulate emissions performance.
Challenges
Particulate emissions performance is still a challenge even though relative emissions decreased from 0.39kg/MWh sent out to 0.33kg/MWh sent out compared to the previous year Increased number of trips at power stations Turnover of environmental practitioners at power stations ISO certification not achieved for all stations Unauthorised water releases.

Benchmarking

Generation has benchmarked its coal plant performance over many years against some of its major European counterparts. Eskom’s plant profile and performance aligns closely with that of VGB (Association of Large Boiler Operators). The energy availability of Eskom’s coal-fired units is benchmarked against those of VGB’s members. VGB is a European-based technical association for the electricity and heat generation industries, with 478 member organisations from 34 countries, representing a collective capacity of 520GW.

The energy availability performance of Eskom’s coal-fired generating units in comparison to VGB member performance (excluding Eskom) compares as follows:

The historical performance gap between Eskom and VGB is reducing to the extent that in 2009 the VGB best quartile surpassed Eskom’s performance and the same was predicted in 2011 for the median and probably the worst quartile. Eskom’s declining performance trend is due to increased operating pressure on the electricity production infrastructure and other operating factors outlined in the performance overview.

Eskom’s coal-fired units have generally operated at higher load factors than VGB’s members. This means they are working harder. The higher load factor indicates higher energy produced, compared to lower plant availability.