Cosira parnters with Alstomto complete South Africa’s most innovative and environmentally-sustainable plant at Kusile power station

17 February 2011

The Cosira Group has partnered with Alstom to complete the construction of South Africa’s first wet flue gas desulphurisation (WFGD) system at the Kusile power station. This unique contract, which will significantly contribute towards South Africa’s sustainable development in terms of environmental impact, was awarded to the Alstom/Cosira Consortium by Eskom earlier this year.

According to John da Silva, CEO of the Cosira Group, one of the largest structural steel fabricators in Southern Africa, the contract was awarded to Alstom/Cosira, following Alstom’s decision to present a consortium bid to Eskom for the Kusile contract. 

The contract was awarded to the Alstom/Cosira Consortium which has been contracted to engineer, supply and install a WFGD plant for each of the six coal-fired boilers. The purpose of the WFGD plant is to remove over 90% of the sulphur oxide generated by the boilers.

“We are proud to be associated with the construction of the WFGD plant at the Kusile power station, which represents a landmark for the South African power generation industry, and a first for South Africa,” says da Silva. “The removal of the sulphur oxides, makes the power station the most environmentally sustainable in the country today,” he added.

According to Richard de Arruda, Commercial Risk Director at the Cosira Group, the primary material used for the construction is Carbon Steel 350WA which is available from local South African sources.

“Cosira will be responsible for the supply, fabrication, delivery and construction of all steel components which are locally available,” says de Arruda. “Cosira is also tasked with the full installation of the general mechanical equipment, including major equipment such as mills as well as piping supply and installation. Cosira will also assist Alstom with commissioning during the final stages of project execution.

Construction of the client supplied foundations has begun. The Consortium’s site portion of the contract is scheduled to commence in August 2011. Cosira is required to produce approximately 11 000 tonnes of structural work and platework for the complete project.

“What makes our relationship with Alstom so unique is that we are privy to the design process from the onset and can help present constructability solutions which are adaptable to the South African engineering environment,” says de Arruda.

He goes on to explain that the first 20-22 months of the site construction is critical to the overall success of the project, as the first units completion drives the requirements of the common facilities needed to run the overall process.

“As the first of its kind in South Africa, Cosira is delighted to be partnering with Alstom on this project and we are very proud that Cosira was chosen as the preferred partner based on our competitive offering and world-class technical facilities,” says da Silva. “This project also presents critical skills transferring opportunities as well as the prospect to market our services to other local prospects, the rest of Africa, and the world,” he concluded.