How many power stations?

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Albereth

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How many power stations have been built in SA in the last 20 years?

Is it just Medupi, not that it is finished?
 
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In last 20 years: 2 peaking plants, no baseload as far as I remember.

- Ankerlig (1 400MW: OCGT)
- Gourikwa (750MW: OCGT)

[ETA]Forgot Majuba! Finished in 2001, 4 100MW Coal baseload station[/ETA]

Tutuka (3 700MW: Coal - baseload) was finished in 1990 so just misses your 20 year deadline.

Currently under construction is 2 baseload (Medupi & Kusile both at 4800MW) and 1 peaking (Ingula pumped storage 1300MW)

Then there's the minor stuff like the windfarm at Sere (100MW) and the concentrating solar near Upington (100MW).
 
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Rkootknir said:
In last 20 years: 2 peaking plants, no baseload as far as I remember.

- Ankerlig (1 400MW: OCGT)
- Gourikwa (750MW: OCGT)

[ETA]Forgot Majuba! Finished in 2001, 4 100MW Coal baseload station[/ETA]

Tutuka (3 700MW: Coal - baseload) was finished in 1990 so just misses your 20 year deadline.

Currently under construction is 2 baseload (Medupi & Kusile both at 4800MW) and 1 peaking (Ingula pumped storage 1300MW)

Then there's the minor stuff like the windfarm at Sere (100MW) and the concentrating solar near Upington (100MW).
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Shot.

We're any of these started in the past 20 years, or had they begun before then?

And, how many mothballed power stations are ther or they all on line now?
 
Albereth said:
Shot.

We're any of these started in the past 20 years, or had they begun before then?

And, how many mothballed power stations are ther or they all on line now?
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Well, are you looking for construction start or fully commissioned date? The sixpack coal power stations took about 10 years from construction start to 1st unit (e.g. Majuba 1983 to 1996) and then about one unit per year afterwards (Majuba finished in 2001 - 18 years total construction time - but there was no rush back then due to Eskom's overcapacity). So, definitely no baseload capacity where construction started after 20 years ago (except Medupi and Kusile of course).

The two peaking OCGTs on the other hand were constructed very quickly - Ankerlig in 2006: fully commissioned by 2008 and Gourikwa in 2007, fully commissioned by 2009.
 
I still think it is a mystery as to why we don't have any large solar plants. I think we have one of the highest sunshine hours per year, and we don't take advantage. I also think we should have more nuclear plants than just Koeberg. The plateau is a pretty geographically stable area, we could produce our own Uranium or import from Namibia (who we sell electricity to, so we would actually earn money from buying their Uranium) and none of the harmful emissions that destroy areas in Mpumalanga. We could probably use abandoned mine shafts to dispose of the depleted Uranium too.
 
http://www.enviroserv.co.za/products-and-services/services/waste-beneficiation

This is coming soon. I hope it work.
During 2013, EW2E will commission the Chloorkop Landfill Gas project which will produce three megawatts of electricity. The sale of electricity from this project will be one of the first Independent Power Producing projects in the country. In doing so, EW2E is charting a course in the, as yet, undefined landscape of electricity trading in South Africa.

Through this division EnviroServ sees itself becoming a significant player in the waste to energy space enabling us to provide the green energy solutions that reduce our reliance on natural resources and speak to a sustainable future.
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It's small but it's a start.
 
Rkootknir said:
Well, are you looking for construction start or fully commissioned date? The sixpack coal power stations took about 10 years from construction start to 1st unit (e.g. Majuba 1983 to 1996) and then about one unit per year afterwards (Majuba finished in 2001 - 18 years total construction time - but there was no rush back then due to Eskom's overcapacity). So, definitely no baseload capacity where construction started after 20 years ago (except Medupi and Kusile of course).

The two peaking OCGTs on the other hand were constructed very quickly - Ankerlig in 2006: fully commissioned by 2008 and Gourikwa in 2007, fully commissioned by 2009.
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The contract was signed in 1983, but construction only started in 1988 (Eskom delayed the start) and was due for completion of all six units in 1996. However Eskom delayed the contact again and pushed out the completion date of Unit 6 to April 2001 with the first Unit handed over to them in April 1996. The rest were commissioned every 12 months.

In 1998 already Eskom was advised to think about the construction of a new power station starting latest in 2003/4. Eskom agreed to the study, however political powers higher up decided that the technical experts have no idea what they are talking about and forced Eskom to can plans for the next power station.

The rest of this tragic saga is history. . .
 
Guantanamo said:
I also think we should have more nuclear plants than just Koeberg.
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Anyone with sense thinks we should build more nuclear plants. Then dumbass hippies like Andreas Spath come along with their "omg nuclear is BAAAAD" bull**** and we end up building more coal plants instead.
 
The_Assimilator said:
Anyone with sense thinks we should build more nuclear plants. Then dumbass hippies like Andreas Spath come along with their "omg nuclear is BAAAAD" bull**** and we end up building more coal plants instead.
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I'm sometimes called a hippy ( well more often than not :o ) I can see the use of nuclear plants. What we also need is independent providers and I want to cut the middle man. I'll pay eskom/independent provider. They can then pay the municipality for their services.
 
Problem is often it is cheaper for a monopoly to produce power than it would be for 2 or more providers. Simply because the start up costs are so massive and the nature of power generation. Of course that only works with proper regulation.

I understand that coal is cheaper to build but in the long run you continue to buy coal to feed it and coal stations can have substantial maintenance costs where as with solar the only real cost is the cost of installation, your variable costs are much much lower. As a way to power smaller towns in a more rural area solar must be better than coal.
 
Guantanamo said:
Problem is often it is cheaper for a monopoly to produce power than it would be for 2 or more providers. Simply because the start up costs are so massive and the nature of power generation. Of course that only works with proper regulation.

I understand that coal is cheaper to build but in the long run you continue to buy coal to feed it and coal stations can have substantial maintenance costs where as with solar the only real cost is the cost of installation, your variable costs are much much lower. As a way to power smaller towns in a more rural area solar must be better than coal.
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Solar does have some relatively heavy continuing costs, considering the equipment has to be kept in immaculate condition to get the best out of it.
 
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