annexures-2-13e9b9427b46ae2d.pdf

This document consists of a public notification and a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Assessment report for the proposed 1,200 MW Thabametsi Coal-Fired Power Station in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The report, prepared by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in January 2017, evaluates the project's carbon footprint, benchmarks its efficiency against other plants, and assesses its alignment with South African climate policies. It concludes that while the project's GHG impact is 'Very Large' and 'High (Negative)', it is more efficient than some of the oldest coal plants it may displace.

• The Thabametsi Coal-Fired Power Station is proposed as a 1,200 MW facility built in two phases (600 MW and 570 MW) to provide baseload electricity for the national grid, utilizing circulating fluidised bed (CFB) technology and sub-critical steam conditions.
• Annual operational GHG emissions for the 1,200 MW plant are estimated at 8.19 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (t CO2e), with cumulative operational emissions over a 30-year lifetime estimated in the range of 246 Mt CO2e. Operational emissions represent 99.89% of the plant's total lifetime GHG emissions.
• The project's GHG emissions are expected to account for 1.4% to 2.1% of South Africa's national emissions in 2020, increasing to 1.9% to 3.9% by 2050. Based on international lender standards (IFC, EBRD, and Equator Principles), the magnitude of these emissions is rated as 'Very Large', leading to an overall significance rating of 'High (Negative)'.
• The plant has a thermal efficiency of 36.25% and an emissions intensity of 1.02 t CO2e per MWh. While this is higher than supercritical or ultra-supercritical plants, it is an improvement over the three oldest Eskom coal plants slated for decommissioning by 2025: Camden (1.24 t CO2e/MWh), Hendrina (1.18 t CO2e/MWh), and Arnot (1.09 t CO2e/MWh).
• The choice of subcritical steam technology was driven by the Department of Energy's Coal Baseload IPP requirements regarding capacity limits (600 MW per project), redundancy, and the need for low-cost generation using lower-quality coal. Supercritical technologies and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) were deemed not feasible for this project.
• The project aligns with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-2030 and the Coal Baseload IPP Programme, but the report notes that South Africa will need more aggressive decarbonization beyond 2040 to meet the 'Peak, Plateau and Decline' (PPD) trajectory of the National Climate Change Response Policy (NCCRP).

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). annexures-2-13e9b9427b46ae2d.pdf. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Annexures-2.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. annexures-2-13e9b9427b46ae2d.pdf. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Annexures-2.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=annexures-2-13e9b9427b46ae2d.pdf |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Annexures-2.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndannexures213e9b9427b46ae2dpdf, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{annexures-2-13e9b9427b46ae2d.pdf}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Annexures-2.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }