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COMMERCIAL FEATURE Maintenance project at Matimba power station POWER GENERATION SECTOR SUCCESSFULLY MAINTAINED WITH ROPE ACCESS Time constraints are a challenge when working for power producers, as they have tight schedules, and there is always pressure to complete the maintenance shut downs as quickly as possible, writes Skyriders marketing manager Mike Zinn. S afe access to power stations is complicated by their large facilities containing boilers, cooling towers and smoke stacks, making scaffolding time consuming and expensive to erect. The rope access offered by Skyriders is not reliant on scaffolding, which allows trained technicians to complete tasks safely and quickly. Rope access is one of the most efficient ways to carry out maintenance as the systems allow rapid rigging and de- rigging. As the technician on the rope is the person carrying out the work, only one team is needed to construct the rigging and then carry out the maintenance. The system also provides teams with the flexibility needed to complete tasks at various locations quickly. Skyriders has successfully completed recent maintenance work at three of Eskom’s power stations, Matimba, Medupi and Tutuka, using rope access. The work at Matimba required working at a height of 250 metres. The steel erection at Medupi made use of rope access as it was a quicker and cheaper alternative to scaffolding. The recent work at Tutuka required industrial vacuum cleaning work on hard-to-reach structures that were inaccessible using scaffolding. At the Medupi power station, the company was tasked with carrying out maintenance on the station’s water ESI AFRICA ISSUE 4 2014 treatment plant. The water treatment plant is responsible for processing all of the processed water from the power station, including run-off water and the process water from the plant. This water is treated and pumped back into the system. The columns of the Medupi water treatment plant are approximately six metres high, and by using rope access, the maintenance team was able to get to the top of the columns and complete the necessary work quicker and easier than if they had used scaffolding. Skyriders has also carried out various projects at the Matimba power station since 2003. The most recent project required maintenance work on two of the station’s stacks. This involved a high pressure wash of the two stacks and the application of acid resistant paint to the top 40 metres of the 250 meter high stacks. Several challenges were successfully overcome by the team of eight highly trained rope access technicians. Fly ash debris can be harmful and can lead to negative effects on the environment and efficiency of a power station. In November 2013, Skyriders was appointed by Eskom to remove this debris from all inaccessible structures at the Tutuka power station. These structures included the boiler house, turbine hall, ash handling plant, structural beams, side walls and cable trays. Rope access has proven to be an efficient means of gaining access to high elevation structures, particularly in the power generation sector. It is also significantly faster and cheaper, as well as more flexible than using scaffolding. Skyriders has had a permanent rope access maintenance and inspection team at Kendal Power Station for the last ten years, assisting with various tasks such as boiler internal inspections, inspections of the PF pipes, coal bunkers, terrace bins, precip hoppers and ducting. Teams have also carried out maintenance on the roof and side sheeting, bucket elevators and smoke stacks, to name a few. Skyriders offers a variety of rope access aided services to numerous industries, including mining, heavy industry and facilities management. These services include non-destructive testing (NDT) and inspection, concrete inspection, maintenance and repairs, application of coating systems, work at height safety systems, welding, and confined space rescue and standby. ESI ABOUT THE COMPANY: Skyriders Access Specialists (Pty) Ltd is ISO 9001:2008 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified and has extensive experience in providing rope access inspection, non-destructive testing and work-at- height maintenance solutions to a number of high- profile clients in the local and international power generation, mining, construction, petrochemical and industrial sectors. 55