Duvha Power Station

Duvha Power Station in Mpumalanga, South Africa, is a coal-fired power plant operated by Eskom. The 300 metres (980 ft) tall chimneys at Duvha are the second and third tallest structures in Africa, only a chimney located at the Secunda CTL plant is taller.

Duvha Power Station
Duvha seen from the outskirts of Witbank
Location of Duvha Power Station in South Africa
Country
  • South Africa
Location
Coordinates25°57′50″S 29°20′14″E
StatusOperational
Commission date1980[1]
Construction cost
  • 1,600 million R (1984)
Owner(s)Eskom
Operator(s)
Employees
  • 900 (2013)
Thermal power station
Primary fuel
Power generation
Units operational6
Units planned6 × 600 MW
Nameplate capacity3600 Megawatt[2]

History

Construction of Duvha Power Station started in November 1975 and the last unit came into operation in 1984.

In 1993 Duvha became the first power station in the world to be retrofitted with pulse jet fabric filter plants on three of its six units. These plants contribute largely to the reduction of air pollution by removing 99.99% of the fly ash, which otherwise would be released into the air through the station's chimneys.

On 8 January 2003, Unit 2 generator exploded while being returned to service after a malfunction.[3] On 9 February 2011 another unit failed catastrophically while performing over speed testing.[4][5] The units are over speed rated at 3600 rpm and the last recorded speed before failure was 4250 rpm.

It was the first power station in South Africa to have a black power station manager, Ehud Matya.

Power generation

The station consists of six 600 MW units with a total installed capacity of 3,600 MW operating with a turbine Maximum Continuous Rating of 37.6%.

The station is a twin sister to Tutuka Power Station.

Corruption allegations

In April 2017 General Electric filed a court application accusing Eskom of rigging the tender to install a new boiler at the station so that Dongfang Electric would get the contact even though their bid was R1 billion (US$76 million) more than the General Electric bid.[6]

See also

References
  1. Rod Hansen; Robbie van Rensburg (June 2006). "Cost comparisons between electrostatic precipitators and pulse jet fabric filters and inherent challenges of both technologies at ESKOM's 6 X 600 MW units at Duvha Power Station" (PDF). International Society for Electrostatic Precipitation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  2. "Duvha Power Station". Eskom. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  3. "Generator Accident in Africa".
  4. "Media Statement". Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
  5. "Eskom makes R3bn boo-boo". News24.
  6. STEPHAN HOFSTATTER AND CAROL PATON (26 April 2017). "GE claims Eskom favoured Chinese firm's bid, with backing of Trillian". Business Day. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
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