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Grootvlei return to service helps to reverse electricity difficulties – Zuma

President Jacob Zuma

Photo by Duane Daws

Photo by Duane Daws

20th September 2013

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The return to service of the mothballed Grootvlei power station in Balfour, Mpumalanga, will help to reverse the electricity difficulties the country has been experiencing since 2007, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.

Speaking at the official reopening of the six-unit, 1 200 MW coal-fired power station, on Friday, he said the return to service of the power station would also contribute to easing the electricity demand requirements on the national grid thereby providing maintenance space for other power stations.

The return to service of Grootvlei started in 2004.

The R7.2-billion upgrade of the power plant, which was idled over two decades ago, added to the progress made with State-owned power utility Eskom’s return-to-service projects, which also included the upgrade of the Camden and Komati power stations.

Camden has already been commissioned and only one unit of the Komati station was still to be completed.

“Beyond the reopening of the Grootvlei power station, today we also have an opportunity to celebrate the significant progress that has been made nationally through the largest new power station being built in South African history,” Zuma added, referring to Medupi, in Limpopo.

In addition to Medupi, the construction of two other major power stations was currently under way, namely Kusile, in Mpumalanga, and Ingula pumped-storage scheme on the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba reiterated government’s intention of interacting with and monitoring Eskom’s progress in implementing measures to ensure reliable electricity supply in an effort to keep the lights on, while carrying out the necessary and crucial plant maintenance.

“We are all aware that Eskom has many challenges related to plant maintenance, securing the correct quality of coal and delays in the new build programme. However … we can turn things around with the measures and strategies we have put in place to make sure that electricity supply capacity grows to meet rising demand as our country pursues its growth rate targets,” he said.

Since 2005, Eskom has delivered 6 017 MW of new generation capacity – including 3 700 MW from the R25.1-billion return–to-service programme – with over 4 600 km of new transmission power lines and 23 775 MVA of substation transformers installed.

In less than 20 years, more than seven-million households were provided with access to electricity. More than one-million new households – benefiting over four-million South Africans – were connected during the past five years.

This, Zuma pointed out, compared with the 5.2-million households that were given access to electricity during the 104-year period from 1892 to 1996.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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