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Lephalale - South African utility Eskom said on Monday it will propose a third power station in December and the first units of its Medupi and Kusile power stations are expected to be commissioned on time.
"We plan to take the proposal for the third power station... to our board in December. The approval usually takes 3 months," Kobus Steyn, Senior General manager for Capital Expansion told Reuters.
He said it would take 6-7 years after approval was granted for the first unit of the new power station to be built.
The 4 800 MW Medupi power plant, estimated to cost R100bn, is Eskom's first new power project in more than two decades. The plant's first unit is expected to be commissioned by April 2012, with the final of the six units due in 2015.
"The publicised date of April 2012 for the first Medupi unit is valid... we are on track," Steyn said.
Once completed, Medupi will be the fourth largest coal plant in the world and the biggest dry-cooled power station globally.
The first unit for Eskom's second 4 800 MW coal-fired power plant, Kusile, is due to be commissioned in June 2013, with the full plant operational by 2017.
Steyn said the first Kusile unit was also on schedule, and the utility was "now even heading for January 2013".
Eskom, which provides 95% of South Africa's power, has been rationing electricity since early last year, when a near collapse of the grid forced mines and smelters to shut for days, costing the biggest economy in Africa billions of dollars.
The utility has said its reserve margin or spare capacity is still tight, and far below the target of 15%.
Nevertheless, South Africa would be spared blackouts during its current winter season because demand from big consumers was low.
"Demand has dropped about 8% in the last year," Steyn said.
South Africa's government has owned up to years of underinvestment in power generation, which led to the chronic power shortages after the economy expanded and demand for electricity grew.
The utility now plans to spend 385 billion rand over the next five years in new power generation, mainly based on coal.
- Reuters