Life After Coal Toolkit: Integrated Resource Plan 2023

This toolkit, produced by the Centre for Environmental Rights as part of the Life After Coal campaign, provides guidance for the public to engage with and submit comments on South Africa's draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023. The document critiques the draft IRP for favoring fossil fuels (coal and gas) over a least-cost renewable energy pathway, failing to adequately address air quality and health impacts, and utilizing outdated data regarding grid capacity and plant decommissioning.

• The draft IRP is criticized for deviating from a 'least cost' electricity pathway by adopting a 'low system cost' approach. This methodology incorporates the cost of unserved energy (load shedding) into technology costs, which the toolkit claims makes the 'renewable energy pathway' appear as the highest cost option and forces other energy sources into the solution.
• The toolkit argues that the draft IRP's approach to energy security is ineffective because it does not project an end to load shedding until 2028, despite the plan's stated purpose to ensure security of supply.
• The draft IRP is accused of compromising climate action by providing for low amounts of state-procured renewable energy and relying on outdated Eskom Generation Capacity Connection Assessment (GCCA) and Transmission Development Plan data to determine capacity limits.
• The toolkit warns that the draft IRP's proposal for extensive gas-to-power capacity as baseload supply introduces significant climate and economic risks. It notes that methane leakage in the supply chain may cancel out the climate advantages of gas over coal, and that the plan fails to discuss volatile input costs or the risk of stranded assets.
• The draft IRP is criticized for delaying the decommissioning of older coal-fired power plants and supporting 'clean coal' generation facilities. The toolkit asserts that carbon capture and storage (the basis for 'clean coal') is not feasible at scale and that the plan uses outdated decommissioning schedules.
• The toolkit claims the draft IRP and its accompanying Socio Economic Impact assessment (SEIAS) almost entirely ignore Minimum Emissions Standards (MES) compliance, air quality, and public health impacts, treating these issues as things to be 'balanced' against supply needs.
• The draft IRP is described as a 'capacity expansion plan' rather than an integrated resource plan because it omits Demand Side Management (DSM) and Energy Efficiency (EE) measures.
• The toolkit challenges the credibility of the IRP's plant performance projections, specifically the claim that the coal fleet's Energy Availability Factor (EAF) will leap from 51% to 67% in two years.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). Life After Coal Toolkit: Integrated Resource Plan 2023. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LAC-IRP-Toolkit-.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Life After Coal Toolkit: Integrated Resource Plan 2023. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LAC-IRP-Toolkit-.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Life After Coal Toolkit: Integrated Resource Plan 2023 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LAC-IRP-Toolkit-.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndlife, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Life After Coal Toolkit: Integrated Resource Plan 2023}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/LAC-IRP-Toolkit-.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }