Eskom snychronises Medupi Unit 2 to national grid ahead of schedule

The unit was loaded to 400MW, making it the fifth of the six Medupi units to be synchronised to the national grid,” said Eskom on Tuesday.

Unit 2 of Eskom’s Medupi power station has been synchronised to the electricity grid, eight months ahead of schedule.

“Eskom is pleased to announce that Unit 2 at Medupi Power Station produced first power on Sunday, 7 October. The unit was loaded to 400MW, making it the fifth of the six Medupi units to be synchronised to the national grid,” said Eskom on Tuesday.

The synchronisation of the unit, which is when the generator in the unit is, for the first time, electrically connected to the national power grid so that it is aligned with all other generators on the grid, was reached ahead of the June 2019 schedule.

The plant, which is located in Lephalale, Limpopo, is a greenfield coal-fired power plant comprising six units rated in total at 4,764MW installed capacity.

“The achievement of Unit 2 first synchronisation marks a key milestone towards the full commercial operation of the unit. Lessons learnt on previous units were implemented on Unit 2, leading to the swiftness in delivering first power.

“This is an amazing achievement, taking us closer to completing the entire Medupi project, as we will be left with one unit,” said Eskom’s Group Executive for Group Capital, Abram Masango.

Medupi Acting Project Director Zandi Shange said the next step will be the testing and optimisation of the unit, resulting in the unit being able to generate full power of 794MW of electricity feeding into the national grid for the country’s consumption.

“As we approach the last stretch of the project, we will apply the same vigour as we work towards the unit’s commercial operation, as well as synchronising the remaining unit,” she said.

Construction activities at the plant commenced in May 2007 and once completed, it will be the fourth largest coal-fired power plant, and the largest dry-cooled power station in the world.

(With inputs from South African Government press release)