Lethabo power plant
| Lethabo power plant | |||
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| location | |||
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| Coordinates | 26 ° 44 '29 " S , 27 ° 58' 36" E | ||
| country |
 South Africa
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| Data | |||
| Type | Steam power plant | ||
| Primary energy | Fossil energy | ||
| fuel | coal | ||
| power | 3.7 GW | ||
| operator | Eskom | ||
| Start of operations | 1985 | ||
| Website | Eskom | ||
The lethabo power station ( English : Lethabo Power Station ) is a coal fired power plant of the state-owned South African power utility Eskom with an installed capacity of 3.7 GW in the province of Free State in Vereeniging . The system is part of the country's base load supply and provides around 10% of the grid capacity.
investment
The power plant consists of six blocks of 618 MW each, which are equipped with MAN turbines. Construction began in 1980, the first block went into operation in 1985, the last in 1990. Electricity is fed into the South African high-voltage network at the 275 kV level. As part of a pilot project , part of the power plant's own requirements is covered by a solar system .
The plant is specially designed for the combustion of coal with a very low calorific value , which is around 16 MJ / kg. This means that at full load, the plant has to be fed 50,000 t of fuel per day and up to 20,000 t of ash are produced every day. The coal is extracted in the opencast mine , which is continuously backfilled with the overburden. Ash is piled up to 50 m above the natural soil and covered with 35 cm of humus .
During the construction, an area of 350 hectares had to be cleared, whereby around 190,000 blue eucalyptus trees had to be felled. Due to the lack of trees, the water table rose , so that one of the largest piles in South Africa had to be built. 11,000 piles of over 25 m in length were built, with the top 15 m of each pile having to be protected from the swelling clay of the upper soil layer. Under the foundation slab of the power plant, 75 cm of free space was left to allow the ground below to expand and contract.
Problems with ash removal in autumn 2014
In November 2014 there were problems with ash removal . After a conveyor belt failed, the ash output through the chimney was increased beyond the legally permissible limit in order to be able to keep the power plant in operation. Lethobo's power was urgently needed in the grid because the Majuba power plant failed after the coal silo collapsed there, so maintenance work was delayed. Although the plant was shut down during the off- peak times , the situation could not be brought under control, so that two units had to be shut down on November 22nd because the ash funnels under the boilers were overfilled and the plant began to sink into the ash. In the following week, a lightning strike in the chimney destroyed parts of the electrostatic precipitator so that a third block also had to be switched off. The ashes had to be removed by truck . On December 1, 2014, all blocks should have been in operation again, but the clearing of the Notaschelagerplatz should have continued until March 2015.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Lethabo Power Station. Eskom, accessed September 13, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Sapa: Ash emissions from Lethabo power station higher than normal admits Eskom. In: Times LIVE. Retrieved September 14, 2015 .
- ↑ Mauell (Ed.): Reference list control systems for power plants . S. 10 ( mauell.ch [PDF]).
- ^ South Africa: Eskom Scoops Top Award . In: News24Wire (Cape Town) . ( Link [accessed on September 14, 2015]).
- ↑ Lethabo power station drowning in ash - exclusive pictures. Retrieved September 14, 2015 .