Alstom has won a contract worth approximately €160 million to build, at the Kusile power plant, South Africa’s first wet flue gas desulphurisation (FGD*) system.
Alstom will engineer, supply and install six wet limestone FGD plants for the six new 800 MW coal fired boilers of the plant. These systems will remove more than 90% of the sulphur oxide generated in the boilers, making Kusile the most environmentally-friendly coal-fired power plant in sub-Saharan Africa. The contract, booked in the 2nd quarter of the 2010/2011 fiscal year, will be executed in consortium with Cosira, a major structural steel fabrication, mechanical and piping construction company in South Africa.
Andreas Lusch, Senior Vice President at Alstom Power says: “Alstom’s FGD systems will contribute to the sustainable development of South Africa by enabling Eskom to generate electricity from local coal, using the most advanced desulphurisation solution in the market. We are proud to have been chosen to supply South Africa’s first FGD system and help the country meet its environmental targets.”
Eskom and Alstom have a long-standing relationship. Alstom has provided major equipment to 12 of South Africa’s 13 coal-fired power plants and Africa’s only nuclear power plant, Koeberg. In South Africa, Alstom has provided 30% of the country’s boilers and its turbines generate 80% of the country’s installed capacity. Most recently, the two companies have collaborated on projects such as the retrofitting of the Arnot power plant, an integrated retrofit project providing a capacity increase to that station of more than 300 MW, and the retrofitting of the Koeberg facility, which will increase its power output by over 65 MW.
