Comments on the Revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the Thabametsi Power Plant prepared by uMOYA-NILU

Dr. Ranajit (Ron) Sahu provides a critique of the revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the proposed Thabametsi Power Plant, asserting that the revised document fails to address most technical deficiencies identified in a previous review of the April 2018 AIR.

• The revised AIR, issued on 16 August 2018, updated the assumed operational date for the Thabametsi power plant to 2023, moving it two years earlier than the 2025 date assumed in the April 2018 AIR.
• The revised AIR only addressed one of Dr. Sahu's previous comments, specifically regarding the timing of the flue gas desulphurization (FGD) retrofit at the Medupi power plant to reduce SO2 emissions.
• The revised AIR's cumulative analysis for SO2 assumes that the FGD retrofit at Medupi will only be complete for units 4, 5, and 6 by 2023, with the remaining units not completed until 2025, leading to predictions of significant additional SO2 impacts.
• Dr. Sahu maintains that the AIR under-predicts the impacts of Thabametsi because the revised report still lacks verifiable technical detail and contains errors in air pollutant emission rates.
• The April 2018 AIR was identified as having several technical deficiencies, including only considering Phase 1 of the project, using insufficiently presented air dispersion modeling, selectively modeling pollution sources, and misstating material usage and emission rates.

APA

Sahu, D. R. (. (2018). Comments on the Revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the Thabametsi Power Plant prepared by uMOYA-NILU. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Annexure-2-FINAL-Sahu-Comments-on-Thabametsi-Revised-AIR-18-09-13.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Sahu, Dr. Ranajit (Ron). Comments on the Revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the Thabametsi Power Plant prepared by uMOYA-NILU. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2018. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Annexure-2-FINAL-Sahu-Comments-on-Thabametsi-Revised-AIR-18-09-13.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sahu |first1=Dr. Ranajit (Ron) |title=Comments on the Revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the Thabametsi Power Plant prepared by uMOYA-NILU |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=3 September 2018 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Annexure-2-FINAL-Sahu-Comments-on-Thabametsi-Revised-AIR-18-09-13.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sahu2018comments, author = {Sahu, Dr. Ranajit (Ron)}, title = {{Comments on the Revised Atmospheric Impact Report (AIR) for the Thabametsi Power Plant prepared by uMOYA-NILU}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Annexure-2-FINAL-Sahu-Comments-on-Thabametsi-Revised-AIR-18-09-13.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }