Eskom has announced that Unit 2 at Medupi power station is now commercially operational.

In a statement on Tuesday (26 November) the power utility said the unit will be part of Eskom’s generating output, contributing just under 800 MW to the South African power grid.

“Unit 2 joins its sister units (6,5,4, and 3) which have been in commercial operation contributing a total of 4,000 MW to the national power grid respectively,” it said.

“This leaves one unit to be commercialised, unit 1, which was synchronised in August 2019 and is currently feeding an average of 400MW to the grid.”

Acting group chief executive Jabu Mabuza said that the commercialisation of the unit is a ‘major milestone’ the signifies the near completion of the Medupi build project.

“Medupi is the fourth largest dry-cooled power station in the world and building it has been challenging at times but we have forged ahead because we knew how important the project is for the country.

“We are therefore delighted that it is finally contributing the much-needed power to the South African and that it has brought development to the region and country at large.”

Privatisation

Speaking at the launch of the new unit president Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated that government’s attempts to reconfigure and split Eskom into three divisions is not aimed at privatising the embattled power utility.

These measures, he said, are rather aimed at stabilising the utility and getting it back on its feet.

“We are not going to privatise Eskom,” he said, comparing the move to auctioning one’s family for silver. “Eskom is going to continue being owned by our government.”

Read: Eskom is not for sale: Ramaphosa