CAPE TOWN - US-based engineering firm Black & Veatch’s (B&V) said on Friday its work and billing on Kusile power station had been the subject of full “scrutiny” by Eskom and the government, and had included “in-depth evaluations” by construction industry experts.
B&V was responding to questions from Business Report after media reports last week that had claimed that Eskom had paid R13billion to B&V since 2005, from an initial tender of R100m for work that had involved the “flawed design of the Kusile power station”.
B&V said it had been appointed in an “open and transparent procurement process” and had been approved by the (Eskom) board tender committee in 2007.
B&V started on Kusile in 2008.
“Over time, scope was added to our role, which required additional resources compared to the initial project plan, however, at no point was B&V responsible for the design of the boilers, and ore coal ash systems, often highlighted as a source of cost overruns and technical issues,” the group said.
“We performed only client-approved work for each calendar year, billed at a pre-agreed hourly rate, ensuring maximum oversight,” the group said. B&V’s performance and terms of its work requirements “were reviewed and approved by our client each year”.
Eskom had engaged B&V for services including project management, construction management, health, safety and environmental services, and engineering and design review services. For the engineering and design review services, task orders to the value of R2.7bn have been placed with B&V, to date, Eskom said on Friday.
An engineer with knowledge of Eskom, who wished to remain anonymous, said part of the problems at the utility was not so much the design of the boilers, but the fact that Eskom had not yet sorted its coal problems, and was burning very hard, low-grade coal, for which the boilers had not been designed.
Former Eskom chief executive Brian Dames had realised the need for additional quality coal, and had said in 2009 Eskom would develop 40 new collieries, but none had come into operation, the source said.
The Kusile 4800MW power station, one of the biggest coal plants in the world, will be the first in Africa to use advanced environmental flue gas desulfurisation technology and air-cooled condensers when it comes into full operation.
Only two of six units are in use, with current delays in full commissioning due to a lack of further financing, the source said.
The R118bn project to build Kusile, originally anticipated to be built in six years, has suffered many delays and consequent massive cost overruns. Most of the delays, according to online sources, were due to labour disputes, strikes, accidents, such as fire, and technical issues including boiler design that the spray water-cooling system could not cope with, excessive wear of filter plant fabric bags, and coal mills not meeting operational requirements.