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Eskom is progressing well with the maintenance of its power generating units, whilst supplying the country’s electricity needs. No load shedding was implemented today.

Unit 4 of the Lethabo power station returned to service in January 2016 after an extended planned outage where major work was done on the turbine, boiler pressure parts, ash handling and condenser. The station, located between Vereeniging in Gauteng and Sasolburg in the Free State, is currently running all six of its generating units, sending out in excess of 3 400MW of power.

Construction of the Lethabo power station started in 1980. The first set of Lethabo’s six generating units went into commercial operation in December 1985 and the last set was commissioned in December 1990. A unique aspect of Lethabo is the unusually low grade and quality of coal that is burnt in the power generation process. The coal burnt has an average calorific value of about 16 MJ/kg. Very few power stations can burn this quality of coal, with most boilers requiring coal fuel of values in excess of 20 MJ/kg. At full load, the power station consumes about 50 000 tons of fuel per day, enough to fill 1 500 trucks carrying 33 tons each.

The ash content of the coal ranges between 35% and 42%, which means that the power station produces approximately 20 000 tons of ash per day. After mining operations, the open pit is filled with spoils and over burden, which was removed during mining. Ash is deposited onto this area to a level of 50 meters above ground level. The ash dumps (mountains) are covered with 350mm of fertile soil and revegetated. Rehabilitation involves the covering of the ash dumps with fertile soil and the planting of grass and trees.

Although other Eskom stations burn coal of a better quality with lower ash content, they still produce ash (fly ash), in smaller volumes though. Eskom is committed to integrated environmental management to conserve the country’s heritage and resources. It is with this commitment in mind that all power stations have a programme in place for the rehabilitation and revegetation of the ash disposal sites.

Lethabo is also termed a ZLED-station (Zero-Liquid-Effluent-Discharge). This means that the whole station is a closed system and no water from our processes is allowed to leave the power station premises. An extensive water recycling and cleaning desalination is in place.

We will continue to provide regular updates on the state of the power system through various media platforms.

Issued by Eskom