The hopes of curbing the ongoing loadshedding crisis in South Africa brightened as Eskom announced the ahead-of-schedule return of Kusile Power Station Unit 1 to the national grid.
How many megawatts will Kusile Unit 1 add to the grid?
The nation’s electricity public utility recently brought a wave of optimism amidst the loadshedding scenario by reinstating Kusile Power Station Unit 1 to operational status a month and a half earlier than initially planned.
This development follows the successful return of Kusile Unit 3 on 30 September 2023, which has been steadily contributing 800 MW to the grid.
With the restoration of Unit 1, an additional 800 MW is now available, collectively augmenting the grid with a total of 1,600 MW from both units.
Eskom granted temporary relief from carbon caps
This significant progress is seen as a step forward in alleviating the loadshedding issues that have plagued the nation.
Eskom expressed positivity in this stride towards decreasing, and eventually ceasing, the loadshedding episodes that have been a source of inconvenience and economic hindrance.
“This signifies that Eskom is on the right path to reducing and ultimately ending loadshedding,” the utility stated.
The backdrop to this progress was a temporary reprieve granted to Eskom, allowing Kusile Power Station to operate sans sulphur dioxide pollution control technology.
This measure was deemed necessary to expedite the return to service of three units that were offline due to maintenance since October 2022.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, while addressing the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), emphasised that this interim arrangement doesn’t stray from South Africa’s commitment to global climate change efforts.
“As a country, we are committed to a just transition to a low-carbon economy at a pace and scale that is affordable to us,” the President said.
Kusile Unit 5 return imminent: Here’s how many megawatts it will add to the grid
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa acknowledged the remarkable advancement concerning electricity generation during a briefing on Sunday, 8 October 2023.
He appreciated the early restoration of Kusile Unit 3, indicating a positive turn in the nation’s electricity provision landscape.
“I am really excited to say that we will be returning the other units, with 2 400 megawatts,” Ramokgopa said.
The initial discontinuation of the three units at Kusile Power Station for maintenance had imposed a significant strain on the national grid, costing the economy around 2,400 megawatts of generating capacity.
With Kusile Unit 3 already operational and now Unit 1 back on stream, expectations are building up for the reinstatement of the remaining units, ultimately ramping up the total generation capacity to 3,200 MW once Unit 5 is operational.
Lower stages of loadshedding expected for the rest of this week
In a recent update on Sunday, 15 October 2023, Eskom extended the temporary suspension of daytime loadshedding for the second consecutive week due to the stabilised generation capacity.
However, the relief is short-lived as Stage 2 outages are scheduled to resume from 16:00 until 05:00 the following morning, a pattern to be repeated daily until further notice.