Tutuka Power Station in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

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

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 ...

. It is a twin sister to

Duvha Power Station Duvha Power Station in Mpumalanga, South Africa, is a coal-fired power plant operated by Eskom. The tall chimneys at Duvha are the second and third tallest structures in Africa, only a chimney located at the Secunda CTL plant is taller. Hist ...

History

The first unit at Tutuka was commissioned in June 1985 and the last went online in June 1990.

Power generation

The station has six 609MW units with a total installed capacity of 3,654MW with turbine

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 ...

at 38.00%. Tutuka is an important link in the 765kV extra-high-voltage transmission system linking Mpumalanga with the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Crime and corruption

In 2020 the installation of a substandard submerged scraper chain at unit 5 of Tutuka was thwarted. These items were the cause of many breakdowns at Tutuka. The investigation that followed uncovered widespread and costly corruption which exploited lax equipment ordering and warehousing. In November 2021 two persons employed by the station and a supplier of goods and services were arrested. They were charged with theft, fraud and corruption in connection with the disappearance of spares. It was further alleged that four persons operated an oil crime syndicate which had been stealing large amounts of fuel from the station, valued at hundreds of millions of rand. Mid-December 2022, at the request of the Minister of Public Enterprises,

Pravin Gordhan Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan (12 April 1949 – 13 September 2024) was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist who held various ministerial posts in the Cabinet of South Africa. He served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2014, ...

, and President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

, Minister of Defence

Thandi Modise Thandi Ruth Modise (born 25 December 1959) is a South African politician who served as the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans from 2021 to 2024. She was previously the Premier of the North West from 2010 to 2014, Chairperson of the Nati ...

deployed a small contingent of

SANDF The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) comprises the armed forces of South Africa. The Chief of the SANDF is appointed by the President of South Africa from one of the armed services. They are in turn accountable to the Minister of ...

troops at the station (besides at Camden, Majuba and Grootvlei) to curb a growing threat of sabotage, theft, vandalism and corruption.

References

External links

Tutuka Power Station
on the

-Website {{National Key Points navbox Energy infrastructure completed in 1985 Energy infrastructure completed in 1990 Coal-fired power stations in South Africa Buildings and structures in Mpumalanga Economy of Mpumalanga 20th-century architecture in South Africa

History

Power generation

Crime and corruption

See also

References

External links