Site preparation and construction at the Eskom site
The latest Operational Update for Bushveld Energy featured three bullet points on the progress of the Eskom vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) project, including “commenced site preparation work at the Eskom site, including earthworks and cabling”. Lost in that milestone, is the large amount of pre-work. Eskom, similar to most utilities & large industrial companies, has extensive safety requirements an authorisation protocols that must be met before any contractor is allowed to perform any work at their sites. In our case, we had to produce a very detailed and very specific safety file whose breadth and length rivalled some of Leo Tolstoy’s best work. As this is our first project at an Eskom site, the submission featured multiple revisions before Eskom accepted and permitted Bushveld Energy and its contractors to work on-site.