Surveying projects and data management at Medupi

Trial Survey’s Philip Schalekamp explains the intentions behind South Africa’s Medupi power plant.

Trail Surveys (Pty) Ltd, engineering survey specialists in partnership with Panel B Consultants JV (comprising of Arcus Gibb, SSI and Knight Piesold), are currently responsible for the consulting surveying at Eskom's Medupi power plant project, Lephalale, in South Africa's Limpopo Province.

The need for Eskom to provide reliable and sufficient electricity is critical for industrial and sustainable development in South Africa. Eskom is the world's eleventh-largest power utility in terms of generating capacity. The company generates and distributes approximately 95 percent of South Africa's electricity and supplies 60 percent of the total electricity consumed on the African continent.

The Eskom Medupi Power Station project (Medupi) is one of several projects aimed at solving the current energy crisis in South Africa. Eskom has several power diversification options but they are insufficient to meet the forecast demand for electricity over the next 20 years - coal fired options are still required for expansion during this period.

Medupi, due for completion in 2017 with the first unit scheduled to be commissioned in early 2012, will be a six-pack dry cooled coal-fired generating plant, comprising some 4 700 MW of installed capacity. It will utilise high-tech supercritical boilers, which will operate at higher temperatures and pressures than older boilers, giving greater efficiency and consequently better use of natural resources.

Trail Surveys, a Pretoria based company with a southern, northern and eastern African footprint, provides a multidisciplinary surveying service in the fields of civil engineering, civil construction, hydrography, mining, cadastral and architectural. The company has a diverse and extensive client base that includes various government departments, municipalities and consultants in Southern Africa and contractors and civil consultants in other African countries.

Projects such as Medupi offer South African companies the opportunity to demonstrate the capacity of local companies to deliver successfully on mega projects. "Trail Surveys has extensive physical and site management survey experience and the capacity, infrastructure and expertise to tackle a project of this magnitude," says Trail Survey's CEO Philip Schalekamp.

Medupi's civil works component includes the construction of all the concrete foundations and structures, the building work and the construction of all auxiliary works - the water treatment plant, auxiliary boilers, coolers and substations. It also includes backfill, road construction and earthworks.

South Africa and Eskom face continual problems with the skills crisis. "Local people are receiving training as part of the contractual agreements for the civil components of the Medupi projects," says Schalekamp. "Trail Surveys are also providing onsite training in survey skills. We recognise that there is a major survey skills deficiency in South Africa with a resultant severe impact on our industry, especially on productivity, accuracy, quality and safety issues."

A company within the Trail group of companies, the Technology Surveying and Mining Academy (TSMA) is a CETA-accredited training service provider to the construction industry. TSMA is accredited to present the South African Qualification Authority's (SAQA) registered National Certificate in Surveying (NQF 4). TSMA has rapidly established a reputation for excellence in the field of surveying training and recently signed a three-year national contract with ESKOM to provide training and skills development in the field of Geomatics.

The construction of the Medupi power station is already having a significant effect on the lives and the economy of the small community of Lephalale (formerly Ellisras). There are currently approximately 8500 workers on site and this number is expected to peak at 10,000. Lephalale's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase by about 95 percent a year as a result of the power station construction activities, with about 40 percent of the project cost spent locally.

Philip Schalekamp is the CEO and founding member of Trail Surveys (Pty) Ltd. His vision and tenacity have taken his company forward in terms of its substantial expertise and capacity. Schalekamp is also an executive director of the geomatics training academy TSMA (Pty) Ltd. He holds a National Diploma in Surveying and is registered with the South African Council for Professional and Technical Surveyors and the South African Geomatics Institute.