Eskom has assured South Africans they will not experience power cuts, similar to those in 2008, because of problems at the Medupi power plant, SABC news reported on Wednesday.
“For the last five years, we have kept the lights on. South Africa has seen no load shedding,” Eskom CEO Brian Dames said in Johannesburg.
“We are busy building, on our side, the new projects and we are busy running our current fleet and maintaining that. We are confident that we will keep the lights on.”
Eskom said on Monday that one of Medupi’s six 800MW units would not meet its deadline to deliver power to the grid by the end of the year because of technical problems.
“A more realistic target for the first synchronisation of unit six to the grid is the second half of 2014,” the parastatal said in a statement at the time. — Sapa