Generation Engineering division
 


 

Mandate

Provides assurance of engineering integrity and integration across the line divisions by applying engineering governance standards, supported by an engineering framework that drives Eskom’s asset intensive business.

Highlights   Future priorities  
  • With the introduction of the breaker and a half configuration at new 765kV substations, new protection philosophies and schemes were developed for feeder, transformer, reactor, buszone and AC & DC systems. The concurrent implementation of the new IEC 61850 communication protocol for control of IED’s (intelligent electronic devices) positions Eskom as one of the leading utilities technologically with realised benefits in reducing the substation footprint area and the number of protection panels required per bay
  • Published innovative “tower cards” to assist with the negotiation of servitudes with land owners. The division is designing a new AC board standard for the 765kV control rooms that will be large enough to accommodate all cable requirements
  • Successfully implemented the quadrant fall arrest plan, to improve safety of workers during construction.
  • Fully implement an integrated engineering governance structure and framework
  • Encourage the implementation of more innovative designs and philosophies
  • Recruit sufficient engineering staff to continue with a stronger engineering presence on all construction sites
  • Assist with efficiency in expediting the build programme
  • Influence international technology direction and standard setting.
Challenges  
  • The launch of the Engineering Institute
  • Implementation and execution of the operational excellence governance principles at sites
  • Attainment of energy efficiency and biomass co-firing targets
  • Integrating common processes across the asset and outage management electricity production and delivery value chain
  • A rotor pole incident occurred at Palmiet on 5 February 2011, causing a forced outage of nine days on the unit
  • Three lost-time injuries were experienced over the course of the financial year.

 

Material issues

Over the past year significant work was done to redefine and redesign Eskom’s engineering governance structure, develop the engineering framework and processes across the whole plant life cycle.

Generation Engineering together with the engineering departments from Transmission and Distribution have analysed the gap between Eskom’s current performance and its aspiration to rank among the top five utilities worldwide. An operational excellence programme has been formulated to review and fix Eskom’s technical operations’ transformation programme, including fixing the context within which all engineering work happens in Eskom – from processes and standards through to the framework, tools and governance structures. This is aligned to the Back2Basics programme whereby policies, procedures and systems will be standardised, simplified and optimised across Eskom.

In October 2010 Eskom approved a set of aspirations for the next six years for the Primary Energy, Generation, Transmission and Distribution divisions.

Key operational performance indicators:
  • Energy availability factor of 90%
  • Total system minutes of 3.4 and one major incident per year
  • Supply availability interruption duration index of 39 hours (5.1 hours for top 500 customers) and supply availability interruption frequency index of 18 disruptions (2.2 for top 500 customers).

Additional key performance indicators (KPIs), such as cost and investments, robustness and efficiency, safety and environmental performance, will also be closely monitored through the operational excellence programme.

The Generation engineering design infrastructure project was launched in late 2008 and builds on previous investments in technology to optimise configurations and alignments for Eskom’s capacity expansion needs.

The project is partnering with the Kusile project team to create an Eskom coal technology reference plant in collaboration with an implementation partner. In the process, fully intelligent piping and instrumentation diagrams will be created, as well as a full 3D plant model and a boiler internal 3D model. This information will also be usable at Medupi power station, which has similar boilers and turbines.

Engineering Institute

Eskom has resolved to establish a Power Plant Engineering Institute to produce a stream of highly skilled engineers within identified specialisation areas and to serve as a catalyst in the creation and subsequent development of a local knowledge base around these specialisation areas. The institute would also help to build capacity in developing universities, creating and sustaining a pipeline of qualified engineers in areas relevant to the power industry.

Welding skills development programme

Eskom has consistently experienced high levels of below-standard weld reject rates, with attendant cost overruns and production losses. The productivity (weld quantity and quality) of temporary contracted foreign welders has been consistently higher than that of local welders. Eskom needs a sustainable welding skills base and as such the Eskom professional welder development programme was launched in January 2011.

The current weld reject rate is ~7%. Through this programme, Eskom aims to reach reject levels of 1% or less in five years, reducing weld costs (which averaged R300 million over the past five years).

For South Africa, the programme means hundreds of new young welding trainees. They attain internationally recognised certification in professional welding, guaranteeing employment. This will boost South Africa’s performance in technical skills development and reduce Eskom’s reliance on international contractors for skilled welds.

Project engineering

Generation Engineering has partnered with Black & Veatch to develop engineering project controls capability, including planning, scheduling, dashboard management and estimating.

The engineering schedule for Medupi has been developed and integrated into the master schedule, enabling Generation Engineering to start reporting on progress and performance based on an earned value management system. In addition, the division is now managing engineering critical path by discipline.

Generation Engineering has contracted Black & Veatch to develop and define the 100MW Sere wind facility project near Koekenaap in the Western Cape Province. A significant achievement is the wind resource assessment of the site, which helps select a suitable wind turbine and the more accurate estimate of annual wind energy output. The wind resource assessment included the installation of a 60m metrological mast, which has now been in operation for more than 18 months.

Engineers at Medupi power station.

Eskom has identified internal energy efficiency as a strategic priority. Improving the energy efficiency of existing power stations is a cost-effective and fast way to improve the reserve margin and reduce national CO2 emissions. In this way Eskom will take a leading position in the nation’s drive to save electricity, and complement the demand-side management programme of its major industrial customers.

Eskom’s planned energy efficiency measures will have a substantial impact on production capacity and coal consumption and is expected to be cashflow positive. The programme is estimated to yield a minimum of 150MW of increased capacity and 400 kilotons per annum in reduced coal consumption across the coal-fired fleet – a substantial financial benefit as well. The reduced coal consumption translates into 1.5 million tons reduced CO2 emissions per annum – a significant contribution to South Africa’s drive to reduce its overall carbon footprint.

The Majuba power station energy efficiency pilot site, in its first four months of implementation, has already yielded positive results. A multifunctional team consisting of Eskom and international experts, has implemented several improvement measures, to increase Majuba’s output during peak demand by an estimated 26MW and improved its heat rate (coal energy consumed per electric energy produced) by an estimated 1% which translates to approximately 40 kilotons in reduced coal consumption per year. These improvements are being independently verified by Eskom’s measurement and verification department.

The full energy efficiency programme will be rolled out across Eskom’s fleet to realise the total anticipated benefit. Several improvements will be captured in the short term before the winter of 2011 in order to alleviate anticipated supply constraints. The programme will be rolled out to all coal-fired stations in four waves during 2011 and 2012. The benefits from these initiatives will be realised during 2015.

Ramp-up of energy efficiency improvements

  • 26MW already realised at Majuba
  • 150MW of energy efficiency improvements expected by end of 2015
  • Coal savings of ~400 kilotons per annum expected by end of 2015