Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said at a briefing yesterday that significant progress has been made with regard to electricity generation. Kusile Unit 3 returned to service ahead of schedule, with Ramokgopa saying South Africa is ‘starting to turn the corner’ in terms of electricity provision.

The three units at the Kusile plant were discontinued in October 2022 for maintenance purposes. This strained the national grid and affected Eskom’s generating capacity.

Speaking at his weekly media briefing in Pretoria, Ramokgopa said they had to discontinue the units to address safety concerns.

“It’s been almost a year that these units have not been operating. Essentially, the South African economy and the grid were losing about 2 400MW of generating capacity… and that contributed to a significant amount of strain that has been experienced on the grid,” Ramokgopa said.

Ramokgopa added that Kusile Unit 3 now generates 550MW, and that it will take time to restore normality, with the other units expected to return in due course.

“I am really excited to say that we will be returning the other units, with 2 400MW,” Ramokgopa said.

This is eventually expected to be bumped up to 3 200MW when Unit 5 is brought back.

Ramokgopa said he is confident about the work that is currently being done.

According to him, government continues to implement the country’s Energy Action Plan in earnest, with the long-term goal of securing continuous, credible energy supply.

To respond to the severe impact of load-shedding on households, small businesses and the economy as a whole, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a range of measures in July 2022 to improve the performance of existing power stations, and add new generation capacity as quickly as possible.

Load-shedding is currently suspended, with stage 2 power cuts forecast to be implemented from 16:00– SAnews.gov.za