UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED KIPOWER COAL-FIRED POWER STATION

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), representing Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and groundWork, submitted a letter to the IPP Office of the Department of Energy on 15 September 2017. The letter provides updates on legal and environmental challenges facing three proposed coal-fired power stations: Thabametsi, Khanyisa, and KiPower. The CER argues that these projects fail to meet the legal qualification criteria for financial close or preferred bidder status due to missing climate change impact assessments (CCIA) and pending disputes over environmental and water licenses.

• The Minister of Energy's 1 September 2017 statement indicated that the financial close deadline for preferred bidders is suspended, and all future IPP programmes are on hold pending the finalisation of the updated Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP) and the Integrated Energy Plan (IEP).
• The North Gauteng High Court ruled on 8 March 2017 that a full climate change impact assessment (CCIA) is a mandatory component of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for coal-fired power stations.
• Thabametsi's CCIA indicates the proposed 1200MW plant would be among the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters in South Africa due to its circulating fluidised bed (CFB) technology, and that water availability presents a high risk to the project's feasibility.
• The 600MW Khanyisa coal-fired power station, a preferred bidder under the CBIPPPP, has not conducted a CCIA. The CER anticipates high GHG emissions because ACWA proposes using the same CFB technology as Thabametsi.
• The proposed 600MW KiPower coal-fired power station is facing court proceedings and an appeal to the Water Tribunal based on the failure to conduct a CCIA and risks to the water quality of the Olifants and Wilge River catchments.
• Both the Khanyisa and KiPower projects are located within the Highveld Priority Area (HPA), where ambient air quality is either out of compliance or expected to be out of compliance with national health-based standards, and within the water-stressed Olifants River Catchment.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2017). UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED KIPOWER COAL-FIRED POWER STATION. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CER-Letter-to-IPP-office_15-Sept-2017.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED KIPOWER COAL-FIRED POWER STATION. 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CER-Letter-to-IPP-office_15-Sept-2017.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED KIPOWER COAL-FIRED POWER STATION |date=15 September 2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CER-Letter-to-IPP-office_15-Sept-2017.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2017update, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{UPDATE ON THE PREFERRED BIDDERS UNDER THE FIRST BID WINDOW OF THE COAL BASELOAD IPP PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME AND THE PROPOSED KIPOWER COAL-FIRED POWER STATION}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CER-Letter-to-IPP-office_15-Sept-2017.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }