Lethabo Power Station in the
Free State,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, is a large
coal fired power station owned and operated by
Eskom
Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...
.
Power generation
The station is located between Vereeniging and Sasolburg in the Free State and consists of six 618MW units for a total installed capacity of 3,708MW. Total efficiency at Turbine
Maximum Continuous Rating is 37.80%
Lethabo burns coal with a calorific value of 15 - 16 MJ/kg and an ash content of 42%. It is the only power station in the world running on such low grade coal.
The Lethabo power station has approximately 1100 employees.
Technical details
*Six 618MW units
*Installed capacity: 3 708MW
*2001 capacity: 3558MW
*Design efficiency at rated turbine MCR (%): 37.80%
*Ramp rate: 33.33% per hour
*Average availability over last 3 years: 93.05%
*Average production over last 3 years: 21 572GWh
History
Construction of Lethabo started in 1980 and by December 1990, the station was fully operational. The station has been built on 11 000 concrete piles which were sunk 25 metres deep. The reason being to alleviate the heaving clay problem after some 190 000 bluegum trees were removed during site clearing. At the time, it was the largest piling contract ever awarded to a South African contractor.
See also
*
List of power stations in South Africa
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
RSA
External links
Lethabo Power Stationon the
Eskom
Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repre ...
-Website
Coal-fired power stations in South Africa
Buildings and structures in the Free State (province)
Economy of the Free State (province)
Metsimaholo
{{SouthAfrica-struct-stub