Work progressing well at Kusile

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Pretoria - Work is progressing well at Eskom’s Kusile power station, with the barring gear motor at Unit 1 of the power station being switched on this week.

In a statement on Tuesday, the power utility said that the barring gear motor was switched on Monday.

Kusile, which is being built near Emalahleni in Mpumalanga, is a six-unit coal fired power station that will generate approximately 4 800MW of electricity.

“The achievement of this milestone gives an indication of the hard work that is being put towards the commissioning of the station’s Unit 1.

“The barring gear motor turns at 2 400 revolutions per minute (Rpm’s) through a reduction gearbox which in turn rotates the whole TurboGen set (HP, IP, 2 x LP & Generator rotor) at 16 Rpm’s,” said Eskom.

The switching on of the motor follows on the heels of the Lubricating Oil Flush process that was achieved in September.

The power station’s unit six is set to see first power to the grid in the second half of 2015. - SAnews.gov.za