Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Salt River Power Station 2 Salt River, Western Cape MERZ and McLELLAN: Engineer

Date: 1952-1954 Type: Power Station Status: Demolished 1995-1997

ESCOM’s consulting engineers Merz & McLellan were appointed to design Salt River 2 (ESCOM Annual Report 1949:9), but progress was slow and by March 1949 it was reported that only a limited amount of work on the foundations had been completed. By October 1952 reports stated the workshops were erected and work on the pile-driving for the main station buildings and the cooling water canals was proceeding (The South African Electrical Review). The piles were driven onto bedrock some twenty-eight feet [8,5 m] below ground level. The bedrock itself was blasted a further 20 feet [6 m] for the coal tippler (Plan Section C-C). 4 500 tons of steel were used in the framework of the building, erected by Cape Steel from November 1952 (South African Electrical Review, March 1954). Extensive use of steel sheet-piling was necessary below ground level as the site was only 11 feet [3,3 m] above the sea’s low water of ordinary spring tide (LWOST). A pumping system cleared groundwater during construction of the cooling water canal and other underground works. The basement of the circulating water pump house was 13,5 feet [4,1 m] below LWOST (D Fowler 2001). The floor area of Salt River 2 was approximately 80 000 square feet [7 400 m2], and the height of the building was 130 feet [39,6 m]. By March 1954 one of the two 300-foot [91 m] chimneys had reached a height of 200 feet [61 m], and the foundations of the other had been laid. The base diameter of the chimney was 20 feet [6,1 m] and each would have used, when complete, an estimated 900 000 bricks (The South African Electrical Review, March 1954). Delays in the delivery of the boilers, the largest ever installed in the Western Province, led to delays in construction on site, with the result that the first boiler was placed in service only by November 1954 (ESCOM Annual Report 1955). This initially fed steam to Salt River 1 via a pressure reducer and de-superheater. The inter-connector could pass sufficient steam to supply a 20 MW generator at full load, and was extensively used for the remaining life of Salt River 1 (D Fowler 2001). By the end of 1954 a further two boilers and the first generator were in an advanced stage of construction (ESCOM Annual Report 1955). The official closing ceremony for Salt River 2 was held at the power station on 12 August 1994, with Mr Bruce Crookes, Executive director: Generation, officiating and Mr Basson, Mr Henning and Mr Marais shutting the valves (Die Burger 13-8-1994). Mr Crookes had worked at the station in his youth. In its 40 years of operation Salt River 2 had burnt over 13,2 million tons of coal and sent out 24 762 GWh of electricity. In that time, generators 1 to 4 had each run for over 160 000 hours and 5 and 6 approximately 120 000 hours, well above the 100 000 hour design life (D Fowler 2001). (Extracted from Eskom Heritage, accessed 2021 07 28)