The Power Of Steel
Cosira Group Providing Structural Steel For Turbine Hall Project at Eskom’s Milestone Medupi Power Station
19 October 2009
The Cosira Group, one of the largest structural steel fabricators and construction companies in Southern Africa, is proud to announce that it has been awarded the Turbine Hall Contract for the Medupi Power Station Project for Eskom, managed by Alstom, in the latter half of 2008. Cosira’s component for construction on this multi-million rand contract, consists of 12 000 tons of steelwork. Site construction has started in mid-2009.
“This is the largest single contract awarded to Cosira to date,” says John da Silva, Chief Executive Officer of Cosira. “It is also a landmark achievement for Cosira in terms of being the first contract awarded to the Group in the power generation sector, and we are proud to be part of a project that will contribute so significantly to future power generation in Southern Africa,” he adds.
Cosira is supplying the structural steel for the six units of the turbine halls. There is also a crane building and some intermediate platforms under construction and Cosira will be responsible for detailed shop drawings, fabrication, corrosion protection, installation and cladding.
“In total the turbine hall project will require 12 000 tons of structural steel, with each unit (turbine hall) having approximately 2000 tons. The footprint of each unit is 37m wide and 110m in length. The large components will be approximately 10 tons per piece,” says Richard De Arruda, Commercial and Risk Director, Cosira.
“In order to meet the overall construction program, two turbine halls are required to be executed concurrently though in different phases. The constrained working areas also mean that Cosira has to carry out the installation from one side of the building only. The order of installation will run from turbine hall 6 through to 1, with many intermediate handovers to accommodate the overall civil, mechanical and electrical disciplines,” says Richard De Arruda.
Cosira has purchased two 275 tonne crawler cranes for the project, in order to overcome the limited access and time constraints of the overall project. Intermediate cranes include two 100T hydraulic cranes to be used for construction support.
Cosira are working to a Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery methodology on site, providing steel on-demand as the project progresses. The manufacture and fabrication process will be carried out in phases, with batches of steel erected on a JIT basis.
“Cosira is also using its own developed state-of the-art proprietary software program, called ‘Magellan’, to track and trace the progress on the project, from detailing to fabrication, to corrosion protection and eventual installation on site.
“This will ensure that we have the right quantities available on site at all times. The Cosira Quality Management System (QMS) allows us to handle big plate girder components on the project; as well as to effectively identify and track each and every component back to the factory and the originating mill,” says De Arruda.
He adds: “Alstom and end-customer Eskom have stringent safety standards that must be adhered to on site, and we believe that we are up to meeting their expectations in this regard. Cosira embraces the goal of Zero Harm in terms of safety, health and environmental issues and strives to go beyond compliance with regulations. So, we believe that we will be able to accomplish the rules of safety with ease.”
In addition to meeting Eskom’s Eskadaat 6 and Eskom’s and Alstom’s engineering standards and empowerment ratings, Cosira is also proud to be actively involved in skills transfer.
“The ASGI-SA initiative, which aims to empower previously disadvantaged black, and black female-owned companies is part and parcel of all Eskom sites and projects; and Cosira has actively pursued the opportunity to transfer knowledge and skills. Through its various learnership programmes, Cosira supports SMME’s in specific areas, such as detailing, procurement, painting, transportation and site erection,” De Arruda points out.
“The first Steel Structure columns for the unit 6 have been delivered on time to site in March 2009, and we have moved into the site execution phase of this project. This project represents a milestone in Cosira’s history, and we hope to become more involved in power generation contracts around South Africa in future,” concludes CEO John da Silva.