Johannesburg-based Eskom is constructing the two coal-fired power plants in order to end up the power shortage caused by a four-year delay in government approval for expansion. The plant’s first unit is scheduled to begin its operations by April 2012, with the six units due in 2015.
The first unit for the company’s second 4,800MW coal-fired power plant, Kusile, is scheduled to begin its operations in June 2013, with the full plant operational by 2017.
Brian Dames, managing director of Eskom Enterprises, said that the company , which generates around 90% of its power from coal, is spending 120 billion on Medupi and more than that on Kusile.
Kobus Steyn, a senior general manager at Eskom Enterprises’ capital expansion unit, said: “All the planning has been done. It’s supposed to go to the board for approval in December. The approval usually takes 3 months.”
Steyn stated that the decission to go ahead would depend on the estimates of Department of Energy’s growth in energy demand and new technologies. The plant if approved by the board in December, the first unit which is constructed 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) west of Medupi, is expected to be commissioned in 2016.
The company intends over the next five years to spend R385 billion in new coal based power generation.
