The South African power utility Eskom and the Chinese Development Bank (CDB) have signed a US$1.5bn (R19.6bn) loan agreement.
The funds will be used to complete the construction of the 4,764 MW Medupi coal-fired power project in South Africa and to secure the supply of electricity throughout the country. The loan will be repaid over a period of more than 15 years. It is part of a US$5bn loan facility, set up with China, of which US$500m has already been secured in 2016.
The 4,764 MW Medupi thermal power plant is located west of Lephalale in the Limpopo Province and will comprise of six units with a gross nominal capacity of 800 MW each. Construction activities started in 2007 but are suffering significant delays. The plant should be commissioned gradually until 2018. In June 2017, Eskom synchronised Medupi-4 to the grid. This is the third unit of 800 MW to come on stream after Medupi-6 (2015) and Medupi-5 (synchronized in September 2016 and commissioned in April 2017).
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