Initial design and optimization of the Lima pumped-storage scheme

The Lima pumped-storage project is part of a capital expansion programme by Eskom, to help meet the country’s growing electricity demand. The feasibility design of the 1500 MW scheme, in South Africa’s Limpopo province, was completed in May 2007 and the tender design for the access tunnels and infrastructure of this scheme began in September 2007. The final unit will be commissioned in 2016. The main focus of this article is the design of the portals of the access tunnels and the additional optimization of the Lima project. This article follows on from the paper ‘Feasibility design of the Lima scheme’, published in H&D, Issue 6, 2007.