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Eskom says it has completed repairs to Unit 3 of the Medupi power station, after the unit closed in late January to correct boiler-related defects.
You will now undergo optimization and performance tests.
Eskom said contractors and staff had worked “tirelessly” to execute the outage as planned during the coronavirus blockade.
The electricity company announced in June 2019 that the unit was ready for commercial operation and had been synchronized with the national grid, in what was expected to alleviate power generation limitations. But the Medupi power plant has been affected by continuous defects, and its performance was marked as a factor that contributes to load shedding.
Eskom said in a statement Monday that the unit has reached a total generation capacity of 793 MW and is undergoing optimization and performance tests.
“The main focus of the disruption was to implement technically agreed solutions to boiler problems that hampered the performance of the unit,” the utility company said in a statement. “Medupi Unit 3 has reached the total generation capacity of 793 MW since Tuesday, May 5, 2020.”
The state power company said the unit had undergone a series of modifications at the boiler plant and similar work is being done on Unit 6, which is currently unemployed. This will be followed by Unit 1 from mid-May 2020.
“Unit 4 will also be retired from the network in July 2020 for similar modifications. Unit 2 will be retired from the network in late August 2020, followed by Unit 5 in November 2020.”
The company has used the closing period to increase the maintenance work on its infrastructure, as the demand for electricity decreased due to slow economic activity.
Medupi, which has six generating units, has been hampered by delays and cost overruns, structural defects, and corruption claims, increasing pressure on Eskom’s finances and operations.
In an attempt to ease pressure on Eskom, the government announced a plan to divide the company into three entities, namely generation, transmission and distribution.
