A fire had damaged one of the generating units at Kusile Power Station that has not yet been synchronised to the power grid.

Eskom says that the fire occurred last month at a gas heater of Unit 5, which is in the process of being commissioned.

While Eskom’s fire protection systems extinguished the fire, inspections showed significant damage.

The Kusile Power Plant is expected to have six generating units once completed, and provide 4 800 MW to the grid.

However, it’s several years behind schedule, and is well over budget.

Meanwhile, load shedding will be suspended as of midnight.

Eskom’s spokesperson, Sikhonathi Mantshantsha says that this is due to reduced demand over the weekend.

However, Eskom will alert the public on Sunday on whether load shedding will be implemented the following week.

He says that a unit each at Majuba and Arnot power stations has been returned to service.

But over 15 000MW of capacity has been lost in total due to breakdowns.