Eskom said on Wednesday that it has added up to 800MW of supply to the national grid after unit 3 at the Kusile power station was brought online this week.
The activation of unit 3 means Kusile, whose construction is years behind schedule due to labour disputes and design problems, is now producing up to 2.4GW of electricity from three of its six units.
“Bringing the 800MW unit to commercial status means construction activity has come to an end on half the eMalahleni, Mpumalanga project,” Eskom said in a statement.
“The achievement of this milestone follows two years of rigorous testing and optimisation since the unit was first synchronised into the national grid in April 2019. This significant milestone marks the contractual handover of the unit from the principal contractors under the Group Capital Build project unit to the generation division.”
Construction, testing and optimisation activities on the remaining three units, some of which are providing intermittent power to support the grid, are “progressing well”, Eskom said.
WFGD
Kusile is the first power station in South Africa to use wet flue gas desulphurisation (WFGD) technology. WFGD is removes oxides of sulphur such as sulphur dioxide from the exhaust flue gas in power plants that burn coal or oil.
“Eskom is fitting WFGD to the Kusile plant as an atmospheric emission abatement technology in line with current international practice to ensure compliance with air quality standards and its commitments to some of the funders of the project,” the utility said.
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