General Electric Steam Power Systems has received a final acceptance certificate from Eskom for the successful testing and transitioning of Medupi Power Station Unit 4 in South Africa
The power station is expected to produce a total of 4800MW power, said GE. In addition, it will be sufficient to meet the electricity needs of 3.5mn households in the country.
According to the company, the Unit 4 will be the third unit out of six units to be transferred to commercial operation marking the half way point of completing the project.
Once completed in 2020, Medupi will be the fourth-largest coal-fired power plant in the world and the largest in Africa. GE is responsible for providing six full EPC turbine islands, air cooled condensers and overall project and construction management.
“Our team has been working with Eskom on the Medupi Power Plant since 2007, and our collaboration has achieved significant progress with more than just power supply in South Africa. We have invested more than US$73mn to empower local businesses and trained more than 300 students on technical and engineering skills,” said Douglas Beigley, project director for Medupi Power station.
According to the industry experts, enterprise and supplier development is an important pillar of South Africa’s broad based economic empowerment. With the project, GE aims to solidify its long-term commitment to the country’s national development plan.
GE noted that Medupi is an example of how Africa’s power generation needs can be solved through successful public private sector collaboration.
The company focuses on installation, maintenance, repair and upgrade activities and to optimise the performance and long-term value of the steam power plant, aiming to ensure high efficiency for the units throughout the plant’s life cycle.
