The first unit of Kusile power station was connected to the national grid on Monday, adding about 800MW to the country's power system.
Chris Yellend, investigative editor at EE Publishers says the 800MW addition won't be continuous at the moment as it still going through testing and commissioning and will only be in commercial operation in about six months.
During this period there will be a whole lot of testing, on and off, but it did reach 800MW.
— Chris Yellend, Investigative Editor at EE Publishers
Kusile Power Station Project is a coal-fired power plant which is located near the existing Kendal Power Station in the Nkangala District of Mpumalanga.
It looks like load shedding will be a thing off the past with the addition of 800 MW.
Yellend says according to Eskom’s interim group chief executive Matshela Koko, we have about 3000 - 4000MW surplus and is hoping that the 800MW will become necessary as the economy picks up.
One has to have a spare capacity to run the power system stably and effectively...
— Chris Yellend, Investigative Editor at EE Publishers
We do need to grow electricity demand in South Africa.
— Chris Yellend, Investigative Editor at EE Publishers
To hear more from Chris Yellend, listen below: