Reiterating that the target date for synchronisation of the first unit at the 4 764 MW coal-fired Medupi power station remained December, Eskom senior general manager Andrew Etzinger has further updated the market on the plant’s progress, saying on Thursday that additional resources had been mobilised to Unit 6 by both the boiler contractor and the control and instrumentation (C&I) contractor to mitigate any resource-driven delays.

After construction progress in critical areas was hindered owing to industrial action in July – during which time labour attendance dropped to between 40% and 70% – he noted that the workforce was now back on site and Eskom was working with contractors to resolve any issues that could affect the schedule.

The boiler chemical clean on Unit 6 had been completed ahead of schedule on August 21, while the turbine barring gear had been successfully installed by August 30.

In addition, the C&I site integration and site acceptance tests were completed ahead of schedule on September 4, while the draught group test run was started on September 7 and would run for 12 days.

“Other activities continue to support the December 2014 synchronisation date and additional shifts have been introduced 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accelerate progress on site,” Etzinger said.

Elaborating on the progress of another of Eskom’s critical build projects, he noted that the 4 800 MW Kusile coal-fired power plant had also been affected by labour disruptions during the year, after civil contractors embarked on unprotected industrial action in July.

“Disciplinary action against those contractors whose workers caused disruptions has been taken,” he said, adding that the full workforce was now back on site.

The utility had since transferred additional resources to the project to support its recovery plan and the planned synchronisation of its first unit in 2016.

Priority areas had, meanwhile, been defined for 2014 to support the 2016 synchronisation target date, while a stringent tracking process and recovery plans had been established by Eskom and contractors to recover the schedule.

“A commercial strategy has also been defined to increase contractors’ resources and improve their performance,” said Etzinger.

Meanwhile, while the boiler contractor had improved boiler construction progress from 0.48% a week in March to 0.74% a week in September, further improvement was required to achieve the target date.

“Eskom is addressing this,” he advised.

The utility also continued to work with the C&I contractor to ensure it supported the target synchronisation date and had implemented “additional measures” to mitigate the schedule risk associated with this contract.

Eskom was simultaneously developing 60 grid-strengthening projects to bolster and upgrade its nationwide transmission network.