Medupi's unit six turbine is now running at optimum speed, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown said on Wednesday.
"I want to announce that the Medupi unit six turbine commissioning has reached a critical milestone. It is now running at the optimum speed of 3000 revolutions per minute, and I really think you should say 'well done' to Eskom," she said during debate on President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation address.
This paved the way for the synchronisation of unit six, which she expected to happen "within weeks".
The announcement follows concern last month that commissioning of the unit was well behind schedule because blow-through tests -- in which the steam quality and velocity in the turbine are measured -- were taking weeks longer than expected because of quality shortcomings.
Browne said government was fast-tracking regulations to enable Eskom to boost its supply by signing contracts with private-sector power producers.
"By April 2015 this will add 1000 megawatts (to the grid)," Browne said.
