By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africans can continue to breathe easily as the power utility Eskom said in a statement on Sunday, load shedding will remain suspended until further notice.
“This decision comes after 11 consecutive days without load shedding, owing to sustained available generation capacity and adequate emergency reserves,” the statement read.
Eskom indicated a system update would be provided on Wednesday, or if any significant changes occur before then.
“Tonight’s evening peak demand is expected to reach 25 224MW. Furthermore, Eskom plans to return a total generation capacity of 1 150MW to service by Monday evening.”
Meanwhile Kusile has been a significant failure for South Africa, as the power station has been responsible for several stages of load-shedding over the years and has come at a substantial cost to the country.
The project is 10 years late and R80 billion over budget However, the truth seems to be that Kusile still belongs in intensive care.
Eskom announced that the unit would contribute an additional 800 MW to the country’s power system, which was never part of the utility’s grid capacity.
It will supply electricity intermittently during the testing and optimisation phase over the next six months before being transferred into commercial operation, and the capacity officially added to the current Eskom fleet.
Kusile was designed to consist of six 800 MW coal-fired generating units which could deliver a combined 4,800 megawatts.
Construction started in August 2008 and was initially expected to take six years to complete at a cost of R81 billion.
However, widespread corruption, mismanagement, and worker unrest have caused numerous delays and cost overruns.
It is now 15 years after construction on the power station started, and only four of its units are in commercial service.
Announced in 2007, Medupi and Kusile were scheduled to be completed within eight years at a total cost of R163 billion, but the likely final price tag has since ballooned to more than R460 billion, and both still aren’t running at full capacity.