Ramokgopa celebrates the return of Unit 3 at Kusile, despite excess sulphur emissions

Johnathan Paoli

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that while the return to service of Kusile Unit 3 on Saturday is a significant step towards ending load shedding, Eskom remains unable to comply with the requirements regarding sulphur emissions.

Ramokgopa was speaking during the weekly briefing on Sunday, outlining the progress in implementing the government’s energy action plan.

The unit that has now come back online at Kusile is the first of three units impacted by a chimney collapse about a year ago.

The incident robbed Eskom of about 2 400 MW of generation capacity, which is equal to at least two stages of load shedding and led to the dire winter outlook that predicted intensified load shedding of up to Stage 8 – although this did not materialise due to lower electricity demand than expected.

The other two units are expected to be functional in October and November and when