Power Generation & Nuclear Energy
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POWER GENERATION & NUCLEAR ENERGY THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERSwattnow | MARCH| march 2015 2015 | 1 Conlog has the world’s largest installed base of prepaid meters, spanning more than 20 countries on four continents. Furthermore, over 70 utilities worldwide utilise our solutions and consider Conlog their preferred prepayment provider. With systems that are available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Portuguese, our products have been able to reach millions. In addition, as a part of a global group, Conlog has access to a network of offices and resources spanning over 100 countries. 2 | wattnow | march 2015 LETTERS 6 Message from the SAIEE President Dr. Pat Naidoo. REGULARS 8 wattsup page 9 Current Affairs. 12 News Industry updates. 20 Engineering Nuggets 54 WATT? Your questions are answered by industry experts. 63 Calendar of Events page 22 FEATURE 22 Power Generation from Coal Gold to electricity consumers. 42 Nuclear Power The misconceptions of nuclear power is clarified. 46 Load Shedding City Power takes the sting out of this daily anomaly. page 46 RECRUITMENT 52 Recruiting? 5 uses of Powerful Tech Tools LOOKING BACK 56 March What happened on this day in March? page 52 YOUR OPINION 60 SONA 2015 Opinion piece by Mike Cary. 62 On the light..er side Everything's going Nuclear! page 60 wattnow | march 2015 | 3 FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK | MINX AVRABOS ManaGING EditoR Minx Avrabos | [email protected] EditORS Derek Woodburn Jane-Anne Buisson-Street Mike Crouch Dr Michael Grant ContRIBUtoRS BJ Bryant Stuart Webb Mike Cary Karen Ekron Jane Buisson-Street Jayne Archbold Angela Price arch is upon us, motoring on like a steam train.... EVENTS waiting for no one. If you are a South African citizen, you would've experienced load shedding, which Gerda Geyer | [email protected] is, in my opinion, inevitable. CPD & COURse ACCReditation Sue Moseley | [email protected] This issue of wattnow features articles on Power Generation and Nuclear MEMBERSHIP & TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP Power, which is something totally different. To quote Deputy Minister Ansie Smith | [email protected] Thembi Majola: “To compare coal with nuclear, is like comparing apples ADVERTISING with bananas”. Avenue Advertising T 011 463 7940 | F 086 518 9936 This issue sports a nice in-depth article about Coal and its production E [email protected] (pg 24), Nuclear Power (pg 42) and Load shedding (pg 46). PUblisheR South African Institute of Electrical Engineers I’ve kicked the hornet’s nest once again with the February issue of SAIEE HEAD OFFICE wattnow. P.O. Box 751253 | Gardenview | 2047 T 011 487 3003 | F 011 487 3002 Your February issue of wattnow had your correct address but an incorrect E [email protected] | W www.saiee.org.za Office Hours: 8am-4pm name – but it was done on purpose – why? So we could gauge who read their flysheet – why? To gauge what marketing value could be attributed to the flysheet – why? So we could acquire tangible evidence. Guess what? There has been an enormous response and we now know more or less the contribution of the flysheet. SAIEE 2014/2015 OFFICE BEARERS President Pat Naidoo Deputy President André Hoffmann Thank you for those who participated in the secret survey and we assure Senior Vice President T.C. Madikane you we know your correct name and the huge value you are to our noble Junior Vice President Jacob Machinjike Immediate Past President Paul van Niekerk institute. We promise not to use these unconventional tactics, unless it is Honorary Treasurer Viv Crone in the interests of all our members. Honorary Vice President Mario Barbolini ISSN: 1991-0452 Herewith the March issue (correctly addressed), enjoy the read! South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without permission is forbidden. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the SAIEE. E&OE Visit www.wattnow.co.za to answer the questions related to these articles to earn your CPD points. 4 | wattnow | junemarch 2014 2015 “Share a little to save a life” The Sunflower Fund recruits donors to help those su ering from leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders. It takes only 2 tubes of blood to be tested to become a donor and join the SA Bone Marrow Registry. If you are a match for a patient, your bone marrow stem cells are harvested in a process similar to a blood donation. No surgery is required. The Sunflower Fund www.sunflowerfund.org.za 0800 12 10 82 wattnow | march 2015 | 5 GENERATION TO POWER GRID GENERATION TO POWER TO YOU GRID PLUGS & SOCKETS PLUGS & CABLE SOCKETS POWER CABLE POWER CORRECTIONCORRECTION & LV & LV SWITCHGEAR METERING POWER SWITCHGEAR MOTOR POWER STATION CONTROL MOTOR & BILLING PANELS CONTROLIGHTINGL STATION HV, MV & LV TRANSFORMERS STANDBY FROM & MV SWITCHGEAR POWER STANDBY PANELS • LS resin core • Miniature SOLUTIONS transformers substations POWER EARTH • Pole top • SF6 Type FROM EARTH transformers • Vacuum Type SOLUTIONS • MV Switchgear For example, under the real time category, infrastructure. Our people make the we want an intensive focus on load difference. shedding operations. We propose to facilitate national and regional customer During the past month, I had the QUALITY MV/LV SOLUTIONS forums to collate the customer inputs for opportunity to travel with the Eskom load management. We understand that Board to Medupi Power Station. Matimba, The SIMOPRIME air-insulated, MEDIUM VOLTAGE, load shedding is an accepted practice its immediate neighbor, a giant in its own type tested distribution boards are designed for to manage the imbalance in supply and right, appears small when compared to standard applications in the POWER UTILITIES demand. The emphasis is on accuracy, Medupi. Thousands of South African and INDUSTRIAL SECTORS. certainty and predictability. The economic artisans, technicians and engineers are reetings from SAIEE House! impact and the negative effect of the busy at work. Unit 6, a super critical temporary reduction in electricity could be boiler powering an 800 MW synchronous Safe, productive, flexible In February, Radio 702 reported minimized. Another example, under the generator, will be commercially available and fully compliant that South Africa has become the short term category, we want an intensive for the winter of 2015. Units 5,4,3,2 and world’s favorite destination for Valentine’s focus on the maintenance of the plant and 1 are in various stages of construction. Day Celebrations; dinner by candlelight. In equipment at our national power stations, Medupi, Kusile and Ingula are all racing February, The President delivered the State at our substations and power lines of towards commercial operation. South of the Nation Address. Energy was agenda transmission and distribution. Africa will soon have an installed capacity number one of the nine point national plan of + 50 000 MW. Eskom, the African Power for growth and prosperity. We propose to facilitate asset management House, is rising! forums that will help enhance maintenance Energy, as in electrical energy and Eskom, practices and processes. We plan to Very soon, we will all have short memories will continue to be the agenda with which promote local supplier support and of load shedding and you will be promoting we will grapple as we journey through development initiatives. Our aspiration is red hanger energy sales. Keep up the 2015, and the next few years. There is the longer term sustainability of the total confidence and continue to grow your hope. I have confidence that we will help power system. consumption of South Africa’s quality make the difference as members and as The electrical energy. Be good and pay your Institute of Electrical Engineers. When all the analysis is complete, we will account. Thank you, work hard and have find that human resources are the key to all fun. our challenges. We need a stronger focus Under the leadership of Honorary Fellow, Dr. We specialise in: Ian McRae, Office Bearers are in discussion on growing and nurturing our people on “Electricity South Africa”. We have resources: our artisans, technicians and • Fully Type Tested Panels • Mini-Subs selected four time periods for the packaging engineers. Every person associated with • Production of LV/MV Panels • Standby Generators of ideas, strategies and contributions to the power system must be a member of the and Switchboards • Specialised Assemblies • Variable Speed Drives • Flexible Delivery Schedule enhance our national electrical energy Institute. Our drive is to grow world-class • Motor Control Centers • Cost Effective performance. The selected time periods are engineers, technicians and artisans. The • Custom Design by Manufacturing real time, short term, medium term and same effort must be applied to water works, Application MV/LV Solutions long term. For each of these time periods, road, rail and transportation networks, Dr Pat Naidoo | Pr. Eng | FSAIEE we are collecting from members, their ideas telecommunication and information Contact us today for the solution that best 2014 SAIEE President and strategies for action. networks and for all engineering suits you, on 031 783 4607 or [email protected]. facebook.com/VoltexSA | twitter.com/voltexsa www.voltex.co.za 6 | wattnow | march 2015 GENERATION TO POWER GRID GENERATION TO POWER TO YOU GRID PLUGS & SOCKETS PLUGS & CABLE SOCKETS POWER CABLE POWER CORRECTIONCORRECTION & LV & LV SWITCHGEAR METERING POWER SWITCHGEAR MOTOR POWER STATION CONTROL MOTOR & BILLING PANELS CONTROLIGHTINGL STATION HV, MV & LV TRANSFORMERS STANDBY FROM & MV SWITCHGEAR POWER STANDBY PANELS • LS resin core • Miniature SOLUTIONS transformers substations POWER EARTH • Pole top • SF6 Type FROM EARTH transformers • Vacuum Type SOLUTIONS • MV Switchgear QUALITY MV/LV SOLUTIONS The SIMOPRIME air-insulated, MEDIUM VOLTAGE, type tested distribution boards are designed for standard applications in the POWER UTILITIES and INDUSTRIAL SECTORS.