Eskom's Kusile power station
State-owned power utility Eskom on Wednesday said its 4 800 MW Kusile power station, in Mpumalanga, which was currently under construction, was named a project finalist in Bentley System’s 2013 Be Inspired awards, for its innovative use of a virtual three-dimension (3D) plant simulator.
Once completed, the power station will be one of the largest coal-fired power stations in the world, comprising six units, each generating 800 MW.
Using the Bentley MicroStation platform and associated Bentley civil products, Eskom created a fully immersive 3D, virtual and interactive model of Kusile that gave Eskom engineers, operators and plant maintainers a thorough understanding of the plant design, process, operations and maintenance requirements.
The 3D plant simulator held various benefits for the power utility, including improved emergency procedures, as operators could be trained for abnormal or emergency situations in a simulated environment, and increased training opportunities.
“Proactive training on new plant technology reduces the risk of learning-curve failures during commissioning and operations,” Eskom explained, adding that the technology also enabled it to create unified plant plans, as the multiple models created by Kusile’s various build partners could be merged and manipulated into one model, thus eliminating plant inconsistencies.
“Leveraging this technology will benefit safety, operational and maintenance aspects of Kusile through its lifetime,” Kusile project manager Abram Masango said.
The winners of the Be Inspired awards would be announced at the Year in Infrastructure 2013 conference in London from October 29 to 31. 