Eskom to keep five old coal-fired plants operating

• 6 months ago (2024-06-21)
• David Flin

Africa 323 Coal 299 Emissions 65

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Eskom , the state-owned electricity utility of South Africa, has received government approval to keep five of its old coal-fired power plants operational for five years after the country implements a limit on plant emissions in 2025.

The five plants – Hendrina, Grootvlei, Arnot, Camden, and Kriel – exceed the pollution limits due to come into force in 2025. However, Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s Environmental Affairs Minister, has agreed to allow these plants to remain operational despite this. She granted Eskom’s request for the suspension of minimum emissions standards (MES) limits at these power plants.

Creecy said she based her decision on a report which said that closing the power plants could “plunge the country into darkness.” The report also stated that balancing the concern of even more power outages, with daily rolling power cuts, with the health impacts from pollution “was difficult and extremely complex.”

Eskom said: “This allows these stations to continue to operate at existing MES plant limits until 31 March, 2030.”