Medupi unit six ‘a milestone’

President Jacob Zuma officially opening Medupi Power Station's commercialised Unit 6. Liphalale, Limpopo. 30/08/2015, Elmond Jiyane, GCIS

President Jacob Zuma officially opening Medupi Power Station's commercialised Unit 6. Liphalale, Limpopo. 30/08/2015, Elmond Jiyane, GCIS

Published Aug 30, 2015

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Lephalale – The completion of unit six at the new Medupi power station in Limpopo is an in important milestone for South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday.

“Pressure is being alleviated on the national electricity system to prevent or minimise load shedding,” Zuma said after unveiling unit six – the first of the power station’s six units to be completed.

“This is a very important milestone in Eskom’s growth trajectory towards the 4800 megawatt capacity that must be achieved at the completion of the other five units.”

Zuma said unit six – set to add at least 800 MW to the national power grid – would further strengthen the country’s electricity supply and stimulate the economy. The completion of Medupi would grow South Africa’s GDP by about 0.35 percent a year.

“The coming onto stream of unit six takes place at a most opportune moment for our country; during a difficult global and domestic economic climate.

“The GDP growth has contracted by 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015 after growing by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2015. Growth contracted in all sectors except for personal services and general government services.”

Turning to the background of the construction of power stations such as Medupi, Kusile in Mpumalanga, and Ingula in KwaZulu-Natal following government’s decision in 2005 to begin the projects, Zuma said: “You could be asking yourselves why only in 2005? Why not before?

“That… speaks to our history which was structured through racial lines; even energy was structured that way… it was only the democratic government that took a decision to expand power supply in 2005,” he said.

Medupi power station was the largest coal-fired power station in the country, and would become the world’s largest dry-cooled coal-fired power station.

“This is also the first base-load station to be built in 20 years by Eskom, after Majuba power station,” Zuma said.

Unit six was synchronised with the national grid in March this year and has been undergoing tests.

Medupi was scheduled to be fully online four years ago, but construction has been delayed by labour unrest, leading to spiraling costs running into billions of rand.

African News Agency

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