UPDATE ON THE COAL INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS – THABAMETSI & KHANYISA

A letter from the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) providing updates and requesting the status of electricity generation licence applications for the Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired power stations.

• The Thabametsi power station (1200MW) is projected to be one of the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters in South Africa due to its proposed circulating fluidised bed (CFB) technology. Additionally, water availability is identified as a high risk to the project's long-term feasibility, and there are no substantive measures to adequately mitigate GHG emissions.
• The Khanyisa power station (600MW) proposes using the same CFB technology as Thabametsi, which is expected to result in high nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Unlike Thabametsi, ACWA has not conducted a climate change impact assessment for Khanyisa nor indicated an intention to do so.
• The Minister of Energy stated on 1 September 2017 that the financial close deadline for preferred bidders under the Coal Baseload IPP Procurement Programme, previously extended to 3 November 2017, is suspended. This suspension is pending the finalisation of the Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) and the updated Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRP).
• Legal challenges have been initiated against several coal IPP projects based on inadequate climate change impact assessments. This includes judicial review proceedings in the North Gauteng High Court regarding Khanyisa's environmental authorisation and court proceedings against the proposed 600MW KiPower coal-fired power station.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2017). UPDATE ON THE COAL INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS – THABAMETSI & KHANYISA. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CER-NERSA-Letter-IPPs-14-9-17.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. UPDATE ON THE COAL INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS – THABAMETSI & KHANYISA. 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CER-NERSA-Letter-IPPs-14-9-17.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=UPDATE ON THE COAL INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS – THABAMETSI & KHANYISA |date=14 September 2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CER-NERSA-Letter-IPPs-14-9-17.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2017update, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{UPDATE ON THE COAL INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS – THABAMETSI \& KHANYISA}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CER-NERSA-Letter-IPPs-14-9-17.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }