South Africa courts Kusile power station to stabilize the national grid
Unit 1 of the South African coal fired Kusile power station project has been brought into full commercial operation, adding 800MW which will help to further stabilize the national grid.
The unit was completed well ahead of its scheduled commercial operation date of July 2018.
Commercial operation is when the construction and optimisation of the unit are complete and the operator, in this case, Eskom Generation, takes over the plant and runs it on a regular basis.
Eskom Interim Group Chief Executive, Mr. Johnny Dladla, said: “At 10:00 this morning the Kusile project team formally brought unit 1 into commercial operation after finalising all the phases of building the unit. This achievement shows that we have learned lessons from the past and from other New Build projects, hence we managed to achieve this milestone ahead of revised schedule. I would like to thank our employees, contractors, and stakeholders for working together to ensure that we keep on track with our schedule. We value their commitment to the project whilst ensuring that we work safely to deliver on time and within budget,” added Dladla.
The Kusile power station project is a green-fields coal-fired power plant which is located near the existing Kendal power station near eMalahleni in the Nkangala District, Mpumalanga.
It will comprise six units, each producing 800MW for a total capacity of 4 800 MW. Upon completion in 2022, it will be the fourth-largest coal plant in the world.
Kusile is the first power plant in Africa to implement clean fuel technology such as flue-gas desulphurisation – a state-of-the-art technology used to remove oxides of sulphur, such as sulphur dioxide, from exhaust flue gases in power plants that burn coal or oil.
This technology is fitted as an atmospheric emission abatement technology, in line with current international practice, to ensure compliance with air-quality standards, especially since the power station is located in a priority air shed area. The station has a total planned operational life of 50 years.
