Medupi feels the power

Eskom, for once, had something to smile about yesterday when it started up the first of the new Medupi power station's six generators.

The Limpopo power station's unit six began generating electricity at 11.03am yesterday - but it is going to be a while before it begins feeding power into the national grid.

Eskom has had to implement power-rationing, better known as "rolling blackouts", since October because more than a third of its generating infrastructure had either succumbed to old age and broken down, or was taken out of operation for maintenance.

Medupi was due to go online years ago but is still under construction.

"We are expecting unit six to be fully operational by June. It has to go through a testing phase, during which work needs to be done to synchronise components," Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said.

At full capacity Medupi's unit six will be able to generate 794MW of electricity. "Any new capacity will go a long way in helping us meet the demand," Phasiwe said.

Medupi power station has had a number of setbacks over the past few years.

It might take another year for the second 794MW generator to be connected to the national grid.

Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona called the unit six start-up "a new beginning".

Once all of Medupi's six units are online - the new target date is 2020 - the largest dry-cooled coal station in the world will have a total output of 4764MW.

Priced in 2007 at R7-billion, Eskom in November revised its estimate of the cost of Medupi to R120-billion.