Matimba Power Station close to

Ellisras Lephalale, formerly known as Ellisras, is a coal mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa immediately east of the Waterberg Coalfield. The town was established as Ellisras in 1960 and named after Patrick Ellis and Piet Erasmus who settl ...

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

Province,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, is a dry-cooled

coal-fired power plant A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate a ...

operated by

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

Power generation

The station consists of six 665 MW units with a total installed capacity of 3,990 MW. The turbine's

Maximum Continuous Rating In electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow through particular equipment. According to the particular discipline, the term ''power'' may refer to electrical or ...

is 35.60%. The power station was commissioned between 1988 and 1993. Matimba is the largest direct dry-cooled power station in the world. The use of dry-cooling technology has considerably reduced water consumption at the plant relative to those using wet-cooling systems. Matimba is fueled by the open-cast Grootegeluk coal mine on the

Waterberg Coalfield The Waterberg Coalfield is an extensive deposit of coal in the Ellisras Basin in South Africa, lying mostly in the Waterberg District Municipality of the Limpopo province. Mining is increasing, both for export and for local power production, and i ...

with about 14.6 million tons of coal a year via a conveyor system. The mine is also contracted to supply the new

Medupi Power Station Medupi Power Station is a dry-cooled coal-fired power station built by Eskom near Lephalale in Limpopo province, South Africa. The station consists of 6 generating units with a nameplate capacity of 764 MW each bringing the total installed capacit ...

References

External links

Matimba Power Station
on the

-Website {{National Key Points navbox Coal-fired power stations in South Africa Towers in South Africa Economy of Limpopo

Power generation

See also

References

External links