Share

Eskom gets more power

Cape Town - Eskom acting CEO Matshela Koko has commended the Medupi team as Unit 5 reached commercial operation, which means that it is able to supply power to the national grid during peak times.

"Eskom applauds the Medupi team, this milestone is indeed an epitome of delivery”, said Koko in a statement on Monday.

Medupi is a green field coal-fired dry-cooled base load station comprising of six units rated at 4800MW installed capacity. Once completed, the power station will be the fourth largest coal-fired plant and the largest dry-cooled power station in the world.

Unit 5 was officially declared commercial after the completion of control performance and the 72-hour reliability tests, putting all performance guarantees to effect, the power utility said.  

Despite delays and cost overruns, Eskom noted that the unit's commercial operation came ahead of the scheduled time line of March 2018.

Unit 5 was first synchronised to the national grid on 8 September 2016. This was then followed by further testing and optimising, which resulted in its full power of 800 MW being attained on 17 December 2016.

Medupi Unit 6 has been contributing to the balancing of electricity supply and demand since 23 August 2015.

“The Eskom new build programme is meant for strengthening the electricity supply, Medupi with its second unit coming online, is a reflection of the endeavours towards realising this initiative".

Medupi Unit 5 project milestones:

Koko said last month that Eskom is open for business with surplus capacity available. At the time he announced a five year electricity sales agreement with Namibia’s national electricity utility NamPower.

This news followed the completion of construction of a permanent coal-handling facility at the Majuba power station in Mpumalanga.

The power utility said Silo 20 was rebuilt and Silos 10 and 30 were reinforced after the 2014 collapse of the coal storage silo. At the time, Eskom said the silo had cracked. The conveyer belt systems used to feed coal to the power station were also damaged, resulting in load shedding across South Africa.

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
19.00
-0.5%
Rand - Pound
24.02
-0.5%
Rand - Euro
20.51
-0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.35
-0.0%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.6%
Platinum
900.15
+0.4%
Palladium
1,000.00
-0.2%
Gold
2,210.45
+0.7%
Silver
24.60
-0.2%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,142
+0.7%
All Share
74,329
+0.6%
Resource 10
56,957
+2.3%
Industrial 25
103,635
+0.4%
Financial 15
16,485
-0.2%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders