South Africa’s Eskom connects a 800 MW unit at the Kusile coal power plant

The South African state-owned power utility Eskom has synchronised Unit 5 of the Kusile Power Station project to the national grid, contributing with an additional 800 MW to the African country’s power system. The unit was synchronized for the first time on 31 December 2023, and should supply electricity intermittently over the next 6 months, during the testing and optimisation phase of the project. Afterwards, the project is expected to be transferred into commercial operation, officially adding the capacity to the current Eskom fleet. The Kusile Power Station, located near eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, consist of six units which should produce a maximum 4,800 MW and is expected to become South Africa’s largest construction project and the world’s fourth largest coal plant. The Kusile 1 and Kusile 2 started operating in 2017 and 2020, respectively, while Kusile 3 was commissioned in March 2021 and Kusile 4 was connected to the national grid for the first time in December 2021. The last unit of the project is under construction and commissioning activities. 

South Africa’s installed capacity was of 65 GW (end of 2022), of which 73% came from coal.