Alstom, the supplier of air quality control systems (AQCS) for power plants, has won a contract worth approximately €160 million to build South Africa’s first wet flue gas desulphurisation (FGD*) system at the Kusile power plant, further strengthening its leadership in air quality control systems.

Alstom will engineer, supply and install six wet limestone FGD plants for the six new 800 MW coal fired boilers in the Kusile power plant. These systems will remove more than 90% of the sulphur oxide generated in the boilers, making Kusile the most environmentally-friendly coal-fired power plant in sub-Saharan Africa. The contract, booked in the 2nd quarter of the 2010/2011 fiscal year, will be executed in consortium with Cosira, a major structural steel fabrication, mechanical and piping construction company in South Africa.

Andreas Lusch, Senior Vice President at Alstom Power says: “Alstom’s FGD systems will contribute to the sustainable development of South Africa by enabling Eskom to generate electricity from local coal, using the most advanced desulphurisation solution in the market. We are proud to have been chosen to supply South Africa’s first FGD system and help the country meet its environmental targets.”

Eskom and Alstom have a long-standing relationship: Alstom has provided major equipment to 12 of South Africa’s 13 coal-fired power plants and Africa’s only nuclear power plant. In South Africa. Alstom’s presence spans over 100 years, its turbines generate 80% of the country’s installed capacity. Alstom has provided 30% of the country’s boilers. Most recently, the two companies have collaborated on projects such as the retrofitting of the Arnot power plant, an integrated retrofit project providing a capacity increase to that station of more than 300 MW, and the retrofitting of the Koeberg nuclear facility, which will increase the power output by over 65 MW, improve the availability and reliability of power supply, and will also extend the lifetime of the plant.

Notes
*Flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) systems remove sulphur dioxide released from coal-fired power plants. Alstom offers wet, seawater and dry processes for FGD to meet the varying economic requirements of its customers. Seawater flue gas desuphurisation (SWFGD) is suitable for thermal power stations, metal smelters and oil refineries, and efficiently treats flue gases containing 20-6500 ppm of sulphur dioxide. The compact design provides a good solution to both new and retrofit installations and is especially cost-efficient on applications that already use seawater as a coolant. The first Alstom SWFGD plant started operation in 1968. Today, more than 90 of these units have been installed or are under construction in different parts of the world, corresponding to a total equivalent capacity of about 32 GW of flue gas desulphurisation.