The impacts of government’s plans for 1500 MW of new coal power in South Africa

The document argues that adding 1.5 GW of new coal power to South Africa's electricity system is unnecessary for reliability and would increase costs, emissions, and GDP loss while reducing employment compared to a least-cost plan focusing on renewable alternatives.

• Integrating 1.5 GW of new coal power would increase costs for electricity consumers and lead to a GDP loss of 0.11 percent in 2030 and 0.08 percent in 2040 compared to a least-cost capacity expansion. In the reference case, forcing new coal through 2030 would incur additional costs of at least R23 billion, resulting in a 0.5 percent increase in electricity prices.
• The addition of new coal capacity would significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions, adding 289 Mt CO2-eq to cumulative emissions by 2050 when compared to an optimal build plan that excludes new coal.
• Pursuing 1.5 GW of new coal power while attempting to meet revised 2030 climate targets (350 - 420 MtCO2e) would cost an additional R74 - R109 billion. Even meeting the less ambitious target of 420 MtCO2e would increase power system costs by R74 billion compared to an optimised system without new coal.
• The forced implementation of new coal power is projected to result in approximately 25,000 job losses across the economy by 2030.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). The impacts of government’s plans for 1500 MW of new coal power in South Africa. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Final-ESRG-Infographic-1.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. The impacts of government’s plans for 1500 MW of new coal power in South Africa. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Final-ESRG-Infographic-1.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=The impacts of government’s plans for 1500 MW of new coal power in South Africa |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Final-ESRG-Infographic-1.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndimpacts, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{The impacts of government’s plans for 1500 MW of new coal power in South Africa}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Final-ESRG-Infographic-1.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }