By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Kusile power station’s Unit 2 was synchronised to the grid on Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule, Eskom said in a statement.
The news comes just hours after the power utility ramped up load shedding to Stage 6 every evening until Saturday.
Unit 3, the first of the three units impacted to return to service, came online at the end of September 2023, two months ahead of schedule. In October, Unit 1 came online. Each unit adds 800MW.
“The additional three units provide 2 400MW, which translates to two and a half stages of load shedding. With the three units back in service, Kusile in total will be generating 3 200 MW,” Eskom said.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa previously said Unit 5 was expected to be in service by the end of the year.
The utility has said the outlook for load shedding in the coming summer is considerably better thanks to the Kusile units coming onstream.
But Kusile’s repairs were not without controversy. Eskom got the nod for its Atmospheric Emission Licence from Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), and the Nkangala District Municipality. Creecy had dismissed an appeal against her decision to allow Eskom to bypass pollution controls.
Applicants – including civil society groups groundWork and Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action – represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, had appealed the minister’s decision to allow Eskom to run Kusile’s Units 1 – 3 temporarily without Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) to limit load shedding. The FGD reduces sulphur dioxide emissions.
Eskom had applied to be exempt from using the FGD. The exemption, which applies until 31 March 2025, allows Eskom to return the units into operation using temporary stacks – without FGD – while repairing the permanent stacks, allowing for the units to be returned to service faster.
Meanwhile the first consignment of energy equipment donated by the People’s Republic of China is expected to be received by Ramokgopa.
The consignment handover is expected to be held in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.
“The donation forms part of the Technical Assistance Programme that was entered into in August 2023 during China’s Head of State Visit to South Africa. The first consignment which has arrived in South Africa consists of 450 gasoline generators which will be distributed to public service facilities across the country.
“The generators will be used as backup to alleviate the impacts of load shedding in the delivery of services in clinics, schools and courts whilst government continues to implement the Energy Action Plan to ultimately end load shedding and create sustainable energy security,” the Presidency said in a statement.
Earlier this year during an Official State Visit to South Africa, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked the Asian nation for its support.