Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (HPE) and its subsidiary Hitachi Power Africa (Pty) Ltd (HPA) have received an order valued at some EUR 2 billion (ZAR20 billion) from ESKOM, the South African Electricity Utility. Hitachi and HPE is to supply six coal-fired utility steam generators for the ESKOM Medupi Power Station. The scope of supply includes the design, installation and startup of the utility steam generators. The generators each with a capacity of about 800 MW will be going on line one after the other within 3 years from 2011. When commissioned the steam generators will be the most modern in South Africa. Compared to the efficiency of Eskom's existing power plant fleet, the efficiency of the new units will be considerable higher.
Construction work on the six power plant units will begin mid 2008, and steel erection work is scheduled to start in the first half of 2009. Many of the utility steam generator components will be engineered and manufactured in South Africa. To this end, Hitachi and HPE has entered into a number of strategic partnerships with best available and reputable component suppliers and engineering companies in South Africa. HPE and HPA will now intensify and extend these alliances.
Technical Information