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SAIW Member profile: Hydra-Arc
August 2015
AFRICAN FUSION
SAIW: Adopting wo ld-class fabrication
The Kusile power station under construction during July 2015. The erection of Unit 1 (left) is
nearing completion and local component and structural steel fabrication is now complete,
leaving South African fabricators facing difficult times.
A Pemamek water wall panel being set up for
fabrication at Steinmüller’s Pretoria West facility.
Pema automatic welding systems were installed by
several South Africa-based fabricators for producing
membrane wall panels for the Medupi and Kusile
boilers. (photographed in 2013).
Blake’s vision is for the widespread adoption and
rollout of the IIW International Welder programme to
all welder training schools, following which, schools
need to be accredited as Authorised Training Bodies
(ATB’s) in the IIW scheme.
safety critical welding applications,”
Blake advises.
In addition, he would like to see
more welders trained in the use of
modernwelding technologies. “Welders
need to be trained to embrace technol-
ogy andwelding automaton. Productiv-
ity in South Africa is, unfortunately, rela-
tively poor and advanced technologies
can have a significantly positive impact
on quality and productivity. In addition,
the younger generation has grown up
in this digital age, with smartphones,
tablets and computers. The use of tech-
nology is not new to them and it may,
in fact, make welding a more attractive
career choice,” he adds.
Fabrication for a vibrant economy
South Africa has a large workforce,
which is necessary when implement-
ing large projects such as Medupi and
Kusile. For these two projects, however,
most local fabricators have now deliv-
ered on their allocated contract work
and many are relatively idle right now.
“This is having a serious impact on em-
ployment and the entire steel industry
is struggling at present,” notes Blake.
“I am a firm believer that we should
immediately invest in more coal-fired
power capacity. The key reason is that
many of our power plants are using old
technology, which ismuch less efficient,
and they are also nearing (or beyond)
their end of life. Replacing these power
plants with newer, more efficient coal
technologies would be a positive step
towards reducing the carbon footprint of
the country, because of the significantly
better efficiency that new super-critical
power stations produce,” argues Blake,
“Emissions will also be improved be-
cause much more effective emission
control technologies can be installed,”
he adds.
“Our fabrication industry developed
considerable amounts of experience
through the Medupi and Kusile project
work, so I am sure it will be able to build
Coal 3 and Coal 4 power stations far
more effectively now. All of the design
changes and manufacturing challenges
are resolved, so repeat projects would
progress far faster and more cost ef-
fectively than either Medupi or Kusile,”
he predicts.
“We know that the period between
2008 and 2014 was a very vibrant one
for South Africa’s fabrication industry.
The two power station projects, along
with the World Cup stadium construc-
tion projects, had an enormously posi-
tive effect on the economy as a whole,
shielding us from the worst effects of
the global economic downturn,” Blake
reminds
African Fusion
.
“Projects such as these have a huge
multiplying effect on downstream and
upstream industries, creating jobs in
mining and steel making; engineering,
manufacturing, fabrication and con-
struction; and all the way through to
logistics, financing and management.
Andwe are now in a better position than
we were to localise the construction of
additional coal-fired plants,” he says.
Could a nuclear new-build pro-
gramme have the same affect? “Nuclear
needs to be part of our future but we
really need more time, training and up
skilling before we attempt to build a
nuclear power infrastructure for our-
selves,” Blake responds. “In the short
term, the only sensible nuclear plant
procurement strategy is to appoint a
foreign contractor to build own and op-
erate. We will, almost certainly, have to
import many of the skills and high-end
components. Very little benefit in term
of jobs and economic growth is likely to
accrue to South Africa.
Citing some positive developments
for the local fabrication industry, Blake
says that several rail projects are un-
derway “progressing slower than the
economy needs” but accelerating. “And
the renewable generation projects are
starting to have a positive impact.
“South Africans have always been
able to change adversity into opportu-
nity. I am confident that, by adopting
modern best-practices with respect to
fabrication and welder training, we will
pull though these difficult times and
emerge as a top-tier fabrication destina-
tion,” Blake concludes.