Pretoria - Workers at the Medupi coal fired power station in Limpopo have downed tools for the day, the power utility Eskom has confirmed.
About 21 000 workers downed tools in a one day stay-away which was called by metalworkers union Numsa. The workers are voicing their frustration around accommodation and bonuses.
Medupi is meant to provide Eskom with an additional 4 800 megawatts of power capacity. However the project has been delayed for three years.
Earlier this month, the first power was produced out of the Medupi power station’s Unit 6.
Synchronisation, or first power, is the process whereby the generator in the unit is electrically connected to the national power grid, in such a way that its power is perfectly aligned with all the other generators to generate and deliver electricity into the national power grid.
However, a lot of testing, which is expected to the completed by winter, will still take place to add to the capacity.
Meanwhile, Eskom has announced that that stage 2 of load shedding will be implemented from 16:00 to 22:00 tonight.
The power utility says any additional changes on the already vulnerable and constrained power system could lead to a change in the stage at short notice.
“We assure you that load shedding is implemented as a last resort to protect the power system. We will only load shed what is required,” Eskom said. – SAnews.gov.za
