{"id":6865,"date":"2013-07-08T17:50:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-08T17:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6865"},"modified":"2013-07-08T17:50:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-08T17:50:12","slug":"hello-load-shedding-medupi-to-miss-its-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=6865","title":{"rendered":"Hello load shedding? Medupi to miss its deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Medupi<\/a>
Medupi power station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Medupi power station will probably begin generating electricity six months later than scheduled, Eskom said on Monday.<\/p>\n

“Eskom has confirmed that the December 2013 target date is unlikely to be met,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“A more realistic target for the first synchronisation of unit six to the grid is the second half of 2014.”<\/p>\n

The state power utility blamed technical problems for the delay in having at least one of Medupi’s six 800MW units up and running by December.<\/p>\n

“[We] earlier communicated that critical technical challenges need to be resolved in order for unit six to begin producing power. These technical challenges relate to the welding on the boilers, and the control and instrumentation systems for the units. In addition are the ongoing labour challenges.”<\/p>\n

The “critical” issues on the boiler related to inadequate post-weld heat treatment, and the replacement of welds which were made using unqualified procedures.<\/p>\n

This was not the first delay because of welding problems. Previously, faults in factory welds had been discovered.<\/p>\n

In May, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said strong measures were taken against Hitachi for its sub-standard work on the Limpopo power station.<\/p>\n

Construction at Medupi was delayed due to failures by Hitachi to deliver top quality boilers at the plant.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Eskom chief executive Brian Dames was quoted as saying Eskom was considering cancelling two key contracts with Hitachi — in which the ANC’s investment arm Chancellor House had a 25 percent stake –and Alstom.<\/p>\n

But later, the utility’s spokeswoman Hilary Joffe said there were no immediate plans to cancel the contracts, and that Hitachi was still in charge of building the boilers.<\/p>\n

Joffe warned the country’s power supply would be tight until completion of its two power stations, Medupi and Kusile. Kusile, being built near Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, was expected to add 4800MW to the grid on completion in 2017.<\/p>\n

Medupi would add another 4800MW. It was expected to be completed by 2015. It was initially scheduled to make its first contribution to the grid in 2013 and Kusile in 2014.<\/p>\n

Unit six was expected to be the first of Medupi’s six units to deliver “first power”.<\/p>\n

Eskom said on Monday that effective interventions had been put in place to address the problems, and the progress of repairs was being monitored.<\/p>\n

Last month, Eskom, the contractors, and labour signed a new agreement to bring stability and improved productivity to Medupi’s construction.<\/p>\n

“All of us on site are now focused on delivering the power station, on time, on budget, safely, and to the required quality standards,” Eskom finance director Paul O’Flaherty said.<\/p>\n

Eskom said it had spoken to the global leadership of Hitachi and Alstom to resolve problems with the boiler and the control instrumentation contracts. It had also put resources in place to monitor the contractors.<\/p>\n

On labour relations, it said processes had been developed to address grievances, and salary discrepancies were being addressed.<\/p>\n

In January, Eskom temporarily closed the power station when contract workers went on strike. Construction was also interrupted in September when workers downed tools.<\/p>\n

Workers belonging to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA had questioned the way their year-end bonuses were calculated, and complained that employees who lived in the area were paid less than workers who came in from Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Gigaba intervened in March and said the construction deadline would not change. He said strict penalties would be imposed on contractors should they fail to meet their obligations.<\/p>\n

Democratic Alliance MP Natasha Michael on Monday said Gigaba should act.<\/p>\n

“The latest delay forecasts a shortfall of power supply in 2014 of 700MW and comes at an expected 15 percent price increase, pushing the cost of the project from R91 billion to R105 billion, an additional R10 billion to taxpayers,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The minister must now act on his word and make sure some heads roll and face the consequences of poor management at the project.”<\/p>\n

She said not having power would negatively affect economic growth and job creation. – Sapa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Medupi power station will probably begin generating electricity six months later than scheduled, Eskom said on Monday. “Eskom has confirmed that the December 2013 target date is unlikely to be met,” it said in a statement. “A more realistic target for the first synchronisation of unit six to the grid is the second half … Continue reading “Hello load shedding? Medupi to miss its deadline”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[3798,456,3797],"class_list":["post-6865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-deadline","tag-eskom","tag-medupi-power-station"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/medupi-power-station_medupi.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6865"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6868,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6865\/revisions\/6868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}