Thabametsi Power Station Limpopo Province Final Climate Change Study and Palaeontological Impact Assessment COMMENTS AND RESPONSES REPORT

This report documents the responses of Thabametsi Power Company to objections raised by Earthlife Africa and Greenpeace Africa regarding the project's climate change and palaeontological impact assessments. Key points of contention include the project's high GHG emission intensity (1.23 tCO2e/MWh), the failure to quantify the social cost of carbon, and the high risk of water scarcity in the Lephalale region of Limpopo Province. The developer maintains that the project is consistent with South African national energy policy (IRP 2010 and 2016) and that its water needs for Phase 1 are secured through existing allocations from the MCWAP-1 scheme.

• The proposed Thabametsi Power Station is a coal-fired facility with a maximum generating capacity of 1200MW, intended to provide baseload electricity for the national grid.
• The project's total estimated annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 9.9 million tons of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per year, an increase from the 8.2 million tons estimated in the draft assessment due to the inclusion of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
• The project's GHG emission intensity is 1.23 tons of CO2e per megawatt hour (MWh). The developer argues this is lower than the projected 2021/22 intensities of five Eskom plants scheduled for decommissioning: Camden, Hendrina, Grootvlei, Komati, and Kriel.
• The developer states that the choice of circulating fluidised bed (CFB) technology was driven by the need for dry cooling to reduce water requirements in a water-scarce area and by the tariff cap of R0.82 per KWh set by the Coal Baseload IPP Procurement Programme.
• Water availability is identified as a high risk to the project. Phase 1 will require 720,000 m3 per annum, sourced from an existing allocation of the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP-1) scheme held by Exxaro Coal (Pty) Ltd.
• The developer argues that it is not possible to link GHG emissions from a single point source like the Thabametsi project to specific local environmental or social impacts because the greenhouse effect occurs on a global basis.
• The developer maintains that there is no universally accepted methodology for estimating the social costs of carbon (SCC) at a project level and that South Africa uses a carbon tax approach instead.
• The project's overall impact is rated as Medium to Low significance with mitigation, although the specific impact rating for climate change is rated as high.
• The project is designed as a zero liquid effluent discharge plant to minimize impacts on local water resources and will not use groundwater.
• The developer asserts that the project is consistent with the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity 2010-2030 (2010 IRP) and the 2016 IRP update base case, which are legitimate government policies.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2017). Thabametsi Power Station Limpopo Province Final Climate Change Study and Palaeontological Impact Assessment COMMENTS AND RESPONSES REPORT. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Thabametsi-Comments-Responses-Report_Final-Aug-2017.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Thabametsi Power Station Limpopo Province Final Climate Change Study and Palaeontological Impact Assessment COMMENTS AND RESPONSES REPORT. 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Thabametsi-Comments-Responses-Report_Final-Aug-2017.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Thabametsi Power Station Limpopo Province Final Climate Change Study and Palaeontological Impact Assessment COMMENTS AND RESPONSES REPORT |date=August 2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Thabametsi-Comments-Responses-Report_Final-Aug-2017.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrights2017thabametsi, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Thabametsi Power Station Limpopo Province Final Climate Change Study and Palaeontological Impact Assessment COMMENTS AND RESPONSES REPORT}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, month = aug, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Thabametsi-Comments-Responses-Report_Final-Aug-2017.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }