Eskom confirmed that Kusile power station unit 2 is back in service, two days ahead of time.
In a short statement on Tuesday, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the return to service brings an additional 800 MW to the grid.
She said the unit was synchronised to the grid on Tuesday.
“This marks another significant milestone in the Eskom Generation Operational Recovery Plan, which aims at increasing the energy availability factor to 70% by March 2025.
The unit will add 800 MW to the grid,” Mokwena said.
This comes after unit 1 was returned back to service, a month and a half ahead of time in October and also brings 800 MW to the grid.
Kusile Unit 3 was returned to service on September 30 and is also delivering 800 MW to the grid.
“The additional three units provide 2,400 MW, which translates to two and a half stages of load shedding. With the three units back in service, Kusile in total will be generating 3,200 MW.
“Eskom would like to thank the Kusile team for their dedication and commitment in bringing back the much-needed megawatts to the South Africans earlier than planned,” Mokwena said.
However, hours before this announcement, Eskom relayed that it would be increasing load shedding from Stage 4 to Stage 6 from 8pm on Tuesday.
The power utility said this was a necessary move in order to replenish its emergency reserves.