On Monday, South Africa’s primary energy provider announced the start-up of one of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants.
After several delays and worries about the climate impact of a coal-based project, the ground was broken 14 years ago.
According to power company Eskom, the 4,764-megawatt Medupi Power Station went online on Saturday.
Repairs and compliance work, however, will be required during the following two years, according to the report.
“Medupi will reliably transmit power to the national grid at full capacity after these repairs are completed over the next 24 months, helping to strengthen energy security for the country,” said Bheki Nxumalo, group executive of Eskom’s group capital division.
It is the world’s fourth-largest power plant and cost 122 billion rand to build (8.5 billion dollars). It is scheduled to run for the next 50 years, providing much-needed power to a country plagued by outages that have harmed the economy and made investors wary of investing there.
Eskom has to take portions of the country off the electricity grid on a regular basis to keep the system from overheating.
Coal is already used for 75 per cent of South Africa’s power.
(NAN)
