TODAY In Energy ›

Eskom goes for rail

Brendan Ryan | Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:07

[miningmx.com] -- ESKOM has come up with an innovative short-term solution to the problem of getting more coal for one of its power stations sent by rail rather than by road.

That’s judging by a “request for proposal” (RFP) Eskom put out early in January, looking for a contractor to operate a rail terminal for the short-term supply of coal to its Camden power station.

Camden, situated near Ermelo in Mpumalanga, is one of the mothballed older power stations Eskom has returned to service as part of its effort to meet South Africa’s power shortage crisis.

The widespread use of trucks to haul coal to various Eskom power stations since the power crisis started in February 2008 has caused severe damage to road networks in Mpumalanga, where most of Eskom’s power stations are located.

The cost to repair these roads is estimated at around R10bn over the next five years.

Many of the smaller coal producers from which Eskom is sourcing coal do not have access to dedicated coal-loading facilities of the type used by larger collieries.

The supply of the type of rail wagons needed to haul the coal is also restricted.

Eskom’s solution is to use 20t payload, modified rail containers loaded onto 50 flatbed wagon trains, with each wagon taking two containers.

These can be loaded with coal at the mine site, trucked to the nearest siding and then loaded onto the 50 wagon trains destined for Camden.

Eskom is looking for an operator to manage handling services at a rail siding it has established adjacent to Camden.

The operator will offload the containers from the wagons, using mobile lifting equipment. They will then be transferred onto “end-tipping road vehicles”, which will haul the loaded containers along a 4.5km designated haul route.

After unloading at Camden, the empty containers will be returned to the siding and reloaded onto the flatbed wagons so that the train can be taken away.

According to the Eskom RFS, “the planned throughput tempo of the terminal is between 1.4 million tonnes (mt) per year and 2.2mt/year, operating between 18 and 24 hours a day, 360 days a year.”

The Camden power station currently receives about 4.8mt/year by road.

Over the longer term, Eskom said it was looking at a new shunting yard to handle 100 wagon trains at Camden as well shortening the dedicated haul route to 1.5km.

Another option for supplying Camden is from Coal of Africa’s Mooiplaats mine 1.7km from the station.

That’s close enough to ship the coal across on a conveyor belt, if Eskom and Coal of Africa can agree on suitable terms.