The successful synchronisation of the first of six units at South Africa's Medupi power station is an important milestone for the project and will help to alleviate the pressures faced by the country's power grid, Eskom has said.
The South African utility announced at the beginning of March that first power had been produced at Medupi's Unit 6 and that over a three month period the unit would reach its full output of 794 MW.
Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown said: "The synchronisation of Unit 6 at Medupi power station is a step towards full power generation and therefore, a step closer to alleviating some of the energy challenges currently faced by South Africa. This will contribute significantly to South Africa's and the region's economy in the long run."
Eskom started building Medupi in 2007 and the 4788 MW power plant was due to reach first power by 2013. It will be the world's largest dry-cooled power plant and will supply around 12 per cent of South Africa's power needs when complete.
Delays in the project have been caused by labour unrest and technical faults with work undertaken by contractors, including Hitachi Power Africa and Alstom. In 2013 Eskom said it would fine Hitachi and Alstom for the costs incurred as a result of the delays.
The last unit at Medupi is now scheduled to be synchronized in 2019. The project is a key part of Eskom's capital investment programme, which aims to boost power generating capacity.
In January Eskom warned that load shedding was likely over the next few months due to the tight reserve margin and the need to carry out essential maintenance on its fleet of power plants.
In early March Abengoa announced that its 100 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant, the first of its kind in South Africa, had started operating.
KaXu Solar One, located near Pofadder, Northern Cape Province, incorporates a storage system that enables production of 100 MW for 2.5 hours.
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