AT WORK: RURAL POWER PLANT

THE CHALLENGE

Looking out over the construction site for the Kusile Power Station, about 100 kilometres northeast of Johannesburg, South Africa, Gerrit Griessel sees a lot of work to be done. “Our part of the project is roughly in the region of 1.7 billion Rand [$130 million USD]”, explains Greissel, “we are the main building contractor on site. It’s a very, very challenging project with lots of constraints.” The Kusile Power Station was one of the largest infrastructure projects under construction in the world. On a worksite covering over 3,300 acres, the project employed over 17,000 workers and was the single largest stimulus to South Africa’s national economy at the time. Completed in 2018, the power station provides just under 4,800 MW of power, representing 12% of the country’s future generating capacity. “The challenge that we faced with getting the mortar and plaster to the buildings on time, and having fresh material available for the construction was a huge constraint. The conventional method of batching it in normal fashion did not suit the project”, he says. The rural setting of the job site made the logistics of obtaining material a major headache, especially fresh, quality concrete. With the project running significantly behind schedule, Greissel and his team looked for a better solution.

THE SOLUTION

Greissel explains, “we looked at a couple of options and eventually we settled on the ProAll Mixer. It has proved to be a huge success. We managed to bring down the quality issues we had on getting the material on site”. Beyond increased quality and reliability, the ProAll Mixer also helped the crews’ efficiency. Work was able to begin a full two hours earlier, and standing time was significantly reduced. “We improved productivity with our labour force about 75%, with them not standing without material on site”, estimates Greissel. With such a massive, complex project to oversee, Greissel is glad he can cross concrete supply off his list of worries: “probably the biggest advantage of having the ProAll Mixer is having the right product at the right time in exactly the right quantity“.

FLUE-GAS DESULPHURISATION (FGD)

Kusile is the fourth largest coal-fired power plant globally, requiring dozens of new coal mines to support the plant. To meet environmental standards, Kusile features a highly sought-after technology to remove Sulphur from exhaust gases. The power station will be the first in South Africa to install flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) – a state-of-the-art technology used to remove oxides of sulphur, such as sulphur dioxide, from exhaust flue gases in power plants that burn coal or oil. This technology is fitted as an atmospheric emission abatement technology, in line with current international practice, to ensure compliance with air-quality standards, especially since the power station is located in a priority air shed area.

17k

EMPLOYEES ON THE PROJECT

175%

CREW PRODUCTIVITY

1st

LARGEST STIMULUS TO NATIONAL ECONOMY

The biggest advantage of having the ProAll Mixer is having the right product at the right time in exactly the right quantity

Gerrit Griessel, Project Manager for SSBR Kusile Buildings