State-owned power utility Eskom said on Wednesday that full power from Medupi Unit 6 should be reached by the end of May and that it was working to ensure that the completion of the remaining five units was not undermined by further technical or labour problems.
The first 800 MW unit was synchronised to the national power grid on March 2, and was being tested and optimised to enable its full integration into the utility’s larger operating fleet. Once the other five units are completed the 4 800 MW power plant will represent 12% of the State-owned utility’s installed capacity.
But the Limpopo project site, which had been heavily prone to labour disruptions, was again evacuated on March 25, after some workers began protesting against certain conditions, while also demanding completion bonuses. These workers are employed by contractors and not by Eskom.
The utility said in a statement that it was in engaging with its contractors on the restoration of site stability and that it would also meet with the trade unions represented on site. It claimed that 1 700 of the 14 000 workers on site had been implicated in the “illegal” industrial action.
“Contractors have since evaluated their position on the evidence gathered and are executing their plan to deal with their employees who actively participated in the unprotected industrial action. They have further advised the affected trade unions of the action being taken against these employees. It is Eskom’s expectation that the contractors, together with their unions, will resolve the matter sooner rather than later.”
Eskom added that it would be “pulling out all the stops to ensure that the completion of the remaining five units is not hampered by technical or labour issues”.
It also reported that, since its first synchronisation, Unit 6 had been delivering 400 MW. However, owing to testing and combustion optimisation, the power was being delivered intermittently, which would will continue until full power (800 MW) was reached by “around end-May 2015”.