LETTER OF DEMAND - INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN FOR ELECTRICITY 2019 AND THE MINISTERIAL DETERMINATION ON THE PROCUREMENT OF 1 500 MW OF NEW GENERATION CAPACITY FROM COAL

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), acting for groundWork, Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, and the African Climate Alliance, issued a letter of demand to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA). The letter demands the abandonment of the procurement of 1,500 MW of new coal-generation capacity as specified in the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity 2019 (IRP 2019) and a September 2020 ministerial determination, citing economic, environmental, and climate risks.

• The Energy Systems Research Group (ESRG) report indicates that an optimal, least-cost electricity plan would exclude new coal investments. Forcing 1,500 MW of new coal into the build plan would increase electricity prices by 0.5% and incur additional costs of at least R23 billion in a reference scenario. In a climate policy scenario, it would result in additional costs of R109 billion in the power sector.
• The ESRG report finds that new coal capacity would have negative economic and environmental impacts, including a reduction in GDP growth by 0.11% in 2030 and 0.08% in 2040, and the loss of approximately 25,000 jobs in 2030. Additionally, it would increase cumulative greenhouse gas emissions to 2050 by 289 Mt CO2-eq compared to an optimal plan without new coal.
• A report by Dr Ranajit Sahu concludes that high-efficiency, low emission (HELE) technologies cannot adequately mitigate the environmental and climate impacts of new coal. The report asserts that 'clean coal' does not exist and that even with HELE technologies, air emissions remain considerable. It notes that advanced ultra-supercritical (AUSC) plants do not meet the IRP 2019 requirement of having at least one operational project experience.
• The Sahu report highlights specific technical risks: Circulating fluidised bed (CFB) technology, preferred by the IRP 2019 for handling low-quality coal, is associated with very high nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Furthermore, carbon capture (CC), integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), and underground gasification combined cycle (UGCC) technologies are described as unproven and cost-prohibitive at scale.
• The IPCC AR6 report emphasizes that human influence has unequivocally warmed the planet and that global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded this century without deep emission reductions. For Southern Africa, the IPCC projects increased hot extremes, heavy precipitation, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather conditions, tropical cyclones, and sea level rises.
• The energy sector is the largest contributor to South Africa's greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 80.1% of the total, with the combustion of fossil fuels being the primary source.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2021). LETTER OF DEMAND - INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN FOR ELECTRICITY 2019 AND THE MINISTERIAL DETERMINATION ON THE PROCUREMENT OF 1 500 MW OF NEW GENERATION CAPACITY FROM COAL. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CER-Letter-of-Demand-to-Minister-Mantashe-and-NERSA-2021.09.17.docx.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. LETTER OF DEMAND - INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN FOR ELECTRICITY 2019 AND THE MINISTERIAL DETERMINATION ON THE PROCUREMENT OF 1 500 MW OF NEW GENERATION CAPACITY FROM COAL. 2021. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CER-Letter-of-Demand-to-Minister-Mantashe-and-NERSA-2021.09.17.docx.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=LETTER OF DEMAND - INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN FOR ELECTRICITY 2019 AND THE MINISTERIAL DETERMINATION ON THE PROCUREMENT OF 1 500 MW OF NEW GENERATION CAPACITY FROM COAL |date=17 September 2021 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CER-Letter-of-Demand-to-Minister-Mantashe-and-NERSA-2021.09.17.docx.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2021letter, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{LETTER OF DEMAND - INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLAN FOR ELECTRICITY 2019 AND THE MINISTERIAL DETERMINATION ON THE PROCUREMENT OF 1 500 MW OF NEW GENERATION CAPACITY FROM COAL}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CER-Letter-of-Demand-to-Minister-Mantashe-and-NERSA-2021.09.17.docx.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }