The elephant in the room, Eskom, is about to become a herd of elephants and the frustration of South Africans from all sides of life is beyond gatvol. In this video Skidmarks spells out the situation from a South African perspective.
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Colyn I am a Sassa pensioner and I cannot afford to replace the food that I buy that goes off because of cANCer and eishkom
Does 📌 Gariep & Vanderkloof Dams generate electricity?
This is in English and Afrikaans
* We just wanted to share our appreciation, gratitude and thanks to Rudi de Lange for helping us clear up the information on power generation at these two major dams.
ENGLISH
Just a bit of information around the hydro electrical generation at both Gariep and Vanderkloof dams.
Rudi de Lange
Gariep has 4x90mw turbines (360mw in total) and Vanderkloof has 2x120mw (240mw in total) turbines. All the turbines at both Gariep and Vanderkloof are working perfectly. They are peaking generations meaning they are activated when demand for electricity is high. During floods, and when the dam is overflowing with a strong inflow, they will be on near permanently.
The turbines are located underground, the power station and outflow from the facility sits away from the dam wall, as can be seen in the 1st photo, circled in red.
People often point to the shutes running down the side of the wall thinking those are part of the power station. These are actually radial gates only used when the outflow is too high, or to control erosion at the base of the dam wall after prolonged periods of overflow. Thus, the outflow of these happen away from the dam structure. Gariep has 3 on either side of the wall and Vanderkloof has 4 on one side only. These gates are tested every now-and-again and are in working order, but there’s been no need for them to be used in recent years as outflow never reached critical levels.
As can be seen in the 2nd picture (illustration), the outflow to the power station happens from the base of the dam. Why? Well, water pressure is immensely higher at the base of the dam, and you need that pressure to spin the turbines. There’s nowhere near enough pressure at the top of the dam to operate the plant. The outflow from the station happens outside the building in the 1st photo. When the dam is overflowing, you have to look quite closely to see the outflow from these buildings, as can be seen in photo 3.
The station was built away from the wall so that it can be maintained and upgraded without major work required inside the wall itself.
A few fun facts around the project:
1) These were the first power stations in South Africa built entirely underground.
2) When Gariep is full, and the outflow to the station is left open, it would drain the dam in 100 days.
3) The outflow pipe, 7 meters in diameter, lets out 220000 liters of water per second.
AFRIKAANS
Net ‘n bietjie inligting rondom die Hidroëlektrise opwekking by beide Gariep en Vanderkloof damme.
Rudi de Lange
Gariep het 4x 90mw tubines (360mw in totaal) en Vanderkloof het 2x 120mw (240mw in totaal) turbines. Al die turbines by beide Gariep en Vanderkloof werk 100%. Hulle is ‘piekkrag’ opwekkers wat beteken hulle hardloop wanneer die aanvraag om krag op sy hoogste is. Tydens vloed toestande of as dit dam oorloop met ‘n sterk inloop, hardloop hulle amper permanent.
Die turbines sit ondergrond, die krag stasie en uitloop sit ‘n entjie weg van die wal af, soos tesiene in die 1ste foto, wat in rooi omkring is.
Nou, baie mense kyk na die ‘sluite’ wat aan die kant van die wal af loop en dink dit is die hidro. Wat jy daar sien is sluise wat slegs oopgemaak word vir vloed beheer, wanneer die oorloop te hoog raak of om erosie aan die onderkant vd wal te voorkom, dus is die uitlaat van hierdie sluise wal-af. Gariep het 3 aan elke kant vd wal en Vanderkloof het 4 slegs aan 1 kant vd wal. Hierdie sluise word af-en-toe getoets maar daar was nie in onlangse jare behoefte om hulle te gebruik nie.
Soos tesiene op die 2de prent, is die uitlaat na die krag stasie in die onderkant van die dam. Hoekom? Want die water druk is op sy hoogste daar, en jy het enorme druk nodig om die turbines so vinnig as moontlik te draai. Die bo-kant van die dam besit nie naastenby genoeg druk vir die turbines om te benut nie. Die uitvloei van die turbines gebeur dus buite die gebou tesiene op die 1ste foto. Wanneer die wal oorloop kan mens amper glad nie die uitloop sien nie (3de foto).
Die hidro was gebou weg van die wal af, sodat dit afsonderlik in stand gehou kan word van die damwal en opgegradeer kan word later van tyd.
‘n Paar “prettige feite” rondom die projekte.
1) Hierdie was die eerste krag stasie in Suid Afrika wat totaal-en-al ondergrond gebou is.
2) As Gariep vol is en die turbines hardloop permanent, sal die dam in 100 dae leeg getap word.
3) Die uitlaat na die turbines, wat 7 meter in omtrek is, laat 220000 liter water per sekonde deur.