The collapse of the FGD forced Eskom to take three units with a combined capacity of 2,400MW offline for roughly a year, contributing to South Africa’s worst year of load-shedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an interim measure, the environment department allowed Eskom to run them with temporary stacks without emissions reduction up to March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the reprieve certainly had a major economic upside, the Centre for Research into Energy and Clean Air estimated it caused roughly 680 deaths and 3,000 asthma emergencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kusile in South Africa vs Tuoketuo in China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Kusile-WFGD-edited.jpg\")
Aerial view of Kusile power station flue ducts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTo illustrate just how poorly Eskom executed the Kusile project, one can compare it to the construction of the Tuoketuo station, which was China’s largest coal power plant until November 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station’s original capacity was 4,800MW, identical to Kusile’s, and it began construction in March 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first two 600MW units entered commercial operation in June and July 2003. The next six 600MW units would all come online in pairs each year in 2004, 2005, and 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station’s initial 4,800MW capacity was therefore up and running within six years and six months, helping support an industrial economic boom in China during the early 2000s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequent expansion with two more 300MW units for waste coal and two 660MW supercritical units took the station’s capacity to 6,720MW by 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While that makes for a total construction time of 17 years, matching Kusile’s, the total capacity achieved after that time was 40% greater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, for many of those years, no work was planned or underway on the extra 1,920MW of capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One unit took as long as an entire station in China<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tuoketuo-new-1200x675.jpg\")
Tuoketuo Power Station in China. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nKusile’s first 800MW unit was synchronised to the grid in March 2017, eight years and seven months after construction began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took longer for Kusile’s first unit to come online than all eight of Tuoketuo’s units. It took another eight years for the remaining five units to be synchronised and reach commercial operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kusile’s ultimate completion cost of R233 billion was also nearly seven times the estimated R33.56 billion of Tuoketuo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuoketuo’s progress is all the more impressive when considering that the company running the power station, Datang, was established just five years before it began construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom was nearly 90 years old by the time construction of Kusile began and had been building large coal-fired power stations for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The facility was the world’s largest coal power plant until November 2025, when it was surpassed by Guodian Beilun Power Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below provides a comparison of the timelines for the commissioning of the units at Kusile and Tuoketuo.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMilestone<\/th> Kusile<\/th> Tuoketuo<\/th><\/tr> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Construction commencement<\/td> August 2008<\/td> \u2014<\/td> March 2000<\/td> \u2014<\/td><\/tr> 1st unit commissioned<\/td> March 2017<\/td> 8 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>June 2003<\/td> 3 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>2nd unit commissioned<\/td> July 2017<\/td> 8 years and 11 months<\/mark><\/td>July 2003<\/td> 3 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>3rd unit commissioned<\/td> March 2019<\/td> 10 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>July 2004<\/td> 4 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>4th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2021<\/td> 13 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td>September 2004<\/td> 4 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>5th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2023<\/td> 15 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td>September 2005<\/td> 5 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>6th unit commissioned<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>November 2005<\/td> 5 years and 8 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>4,800MW capacity reached<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>June 2006<\/td> 6 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The delays at Kusile are estimated to have cost South Africa’s economy billions of rands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":511802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[129,39258,89352,75106,103874,84307,28037,52867,103909],"class_list":["post-634469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-china","tag-coal-power","tag-coal-power-plants","tag-coal-power-stations","tag-emalahleni","tag-flue-gas-desulphurisation-fgd","tag-kusile-power-station","tag-mpumalanga","tag-tuoketuo-power-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634469"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634700,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions\/634700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
To illustrate just how poorly Eskom executed the Kusile project, one can compare it to the construction of the Tuoketuo station, which was China’s largest coal power plant until November 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station’s original capacity was 4,800MW, identical to Kusile’s, and it began construction in March 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first two 600MW units entered commercial operation in June and July 2003. The next six 600MW units would all come online in pairs each year in 2004, 2005, and 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The station’s initial 4,800MW capacity was therefore up and running within six years and six months, helping support an industrial economic boom in China during the early 2000s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subsequent expansion with two more 300MW units for waste coal and two 660MW supercritical units took the station’s capacity to 6,720MW by 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While that makes for a total construction time of 17 years, matching Kusile’s, the total capacity achieved after that time was 40% greater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, for many of those years, no work was planned or underway on the extra 1,920MW of capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One unit took as long as an entire station in China<\/h2>\n\n\n\nTuoketuo Power Station in China. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nKusile’s first 800MW unit was synchronised to the grid in March 2017, eight years and seven months after construction began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took longer for Kusile’s first unit to come online than all eight of Tuoketuo’s units. It took another eight years for the remaining five units to be synchronised and reach commercial operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kusile’s ultimate completion cost of R233 billion was also nearly seven times the estimated R33.56 billion of Tuoketuo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuoketuo’s progress is all the more impressive when considering that the company running the power station, Datang, was established just five years before it began construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom was nearly 90 years old by the time construction of Kusile began and had been building large coal-fired power stations for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The facility was the world’s largest coal power plant until November 2025, when it was surpassed by Guodian Beilun Power Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below provides a comparison of the timelines for the commissioning of the units at Kusile and Tuoketuo.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMilestone<\/th> Kusile<\/th> Tuoketuo<\/th><\/tr> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Construction commencement<\/td> August 2008<\/td> \u2014<\/td> March 2000<\/td> \u2014<\/td><\/tr> 1st unit commissioned<\/td> March 2017<\/td> 8 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>June 2003<\/td> 3 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>2nd unit commissioned<\/td> July 2017<\/td> 8 years and 11 months<\/mark><\/td>July 2003<\/td> 3 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>3rd unit commissioned<\/td> March 2019<\/td> 10 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>July 2004<\/td> 4 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>4th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2021<\/td> 13 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td>September 2004<\/td> 4 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>5th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2023<\/td> 15 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td>September 2005<\/td> 5 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>6th unit commissioned<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>November 2005<\/td> 5 years and 8 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>4,800MW capacity reached<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td>June 2006<\/td> 6 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The delays at Kusile are estimated to have cost South Africa’s economy billions of rands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":511802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[129,39258,89352,75106,103874,84307,28037,52867,103909],"class_list":["post-634469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-china","tag-coal-power","tag-coal-power-plants","tag-coal-power-stations","tag-emalahleni","tag-flue-gas-desulphurisation-fgd","tag-kusile-power-station","tag-mpumalanga","tag-tuoketuo-power-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634469"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634700,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions\/634700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Kusile’s first 800MW unit was synchronised to the grid in March 2017, eight years and seven months after construction began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took longer for Kusile’s first unit to come online than all eight of Tuoketuo’s units. It took another eight years for the remaining five units to be synchronised and reach commercial operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kusile’s ultimate completion cost of R233 billion was also nearly seven times the estimated R33.56 billion of Tuoketuo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuoketuo’s progress is all the more impressive when considering that the company running the power station, Datang, was established just five years before it began construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom was nearly 90 years old by the time construction of Kusile began and had been building large coal-fired power stations for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The facility was the world’s largest coal power plant until November 2025, when it was surpassed by Guodian Beilun Power Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table below provides a comparison of the timelines for the commissioning of the units at Kusile and Tuoketuo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The delays at Kusile are estimated to have cost South Africa’s economy billions of rands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":511802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[129,39258,89352,75106,103874,84307,28037,52867,103909],"class_list":["post-634469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-china","tag-coal-power","tag-coal-power-plants","tag-coal-power-stations","tag-emalahleni","tag-flue-gas-desulphurisation-fgd","tag-kusile-power-station","tag-mpumalanga","tag-tuoketuo-power-station"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634469"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634700,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634469\/revisions\/634700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Milestone<\/th> Kusile<\/th> Tuoketuo<\/th><\/tr> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th> Date<\/th> Time elapsed<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Construction commencement<\/td> August 2008<\/td> \u2014<\/td> March 2000<\/td> \u2014<\/td><\/tr> 1st unit commissioned<\/td> March 2017<\/td> 8 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td> June 2003<\/td> 3 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 2nd unit commissioned<\/td> July 2017<\/td> 8 years and 11 months<\/mark><\/td> July 2003<\/td> 3 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 3rd unit commissioned<\/td> March 2019<\/td> 10 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td> July 2004<\/td> 4 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 4th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2021<\/td> 13 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td> September 2004<\/td> 4 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 5th unit commissioned<\/td> December 2023<\/td> 15 years and 4 months<\/mark><\/td> September 2005<\/td> 5 years and 6 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 6th unit commissioned<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td> November 2005<\/td> 5 years and 8 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr> 4,800MW capacity reached<\/td> March 2025<\/td> 16 years and 7 months<\/mark><\/td> June 2006<\/td> 6 years and 3 months<\/mark><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"