Eskom has announced that Kusile Power Station’s Unit 6 was brought online at 16:45 on Sunday, 23 March. This will add 800MW to the national grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom said that launching Kusile’s sixth unit marked a crucial step toward completing one of South Africa’s largest infrastructure projects. Once operating at full capacity, Kusile will contribute 4,800MW to the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The launch is also a key milestone in Eskom’s strategic objective of adding 2,500MW of new capacity to the grid by March 2025, the power utility said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Eskom is at a critical point returning megawatts to the grid as we are currently in a constrained state,” said Eskom group executive for generation Bheki Nxumalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As we celebrate this progress, our focus is now on ensuring that Unit 6 achieves commercial operation in the second half of 2025, further strengthening South Africa’s energy security.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom CEO Dan Marokane added that the utility is determined to deliver on its targets set out in the Generation Recovery Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Kusile Unit 6’s addition is proof that we are making continued progress in stabilising and strengthening South Africa’s electricity supply,” Marokane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We reiterate our commitment to ensuring that South Africa is in no way returning to the levels of load-shedding that we experienced in 2023 and our focus remains on delivering a more reliable, resilient, and sustainable power system for the country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom said that Kusile’s sister project, Medupi Power Station, will see its Unit 4 return to operation by the end of next month. This will bring another 800MW back online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Both South Africa’s new build power station projects will then be essentially completed once Kusile Unit 6 is in commercial operation,” the state-owned power utility said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Additionally, Kusile is the first power station in South Africa and Africa to implement Wet Flue Gas Desulphurisation (WFGD) technology,” Eskom added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This ensures compliance with air quality standards and aligns with global best practices to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
News of Kusile’s imminent completion and the return of Medupi Unit 4 comes after Eskom had to implement load-shedding three times so far in 2025 due to capacity constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most recent of these was on Wednesday, 19 March, after five generation units broke down before the evening peak demand period, forcing Eskom to implement Stage 2 load-shedding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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