Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

CAPE TOWN: The expiry of one of its key operational licences is the latest major setback for developer ACWA Power’s proposed Khanyisa coal-fired power station in the Mpumalanga Highveld.

This private coal power project, like the other projects conceived as part of the now outdated 2014 Coal Baseload Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (“the Coal IPP Programme”), has been plagued by obstacles over the past few years. These include the withdrawal of funding by a number of commercial banks under pressure to stop funding coal power, and a barrage of legal challenges by civil society organisations of the multiple authorisations required for these projects.

In one of these legal challenges, environmental justice group groundWork, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, has challenged Khanyisa’s environmental authorisation in the Pretoria High Court. groundWork is asking the court to set aside the then Minister of Environmental Affairs’ decision to issue ACWA with an environmental authorisation without conducting a legally-required climate change impact assessment.

Recently, the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Forestry (DEFF) ruled that Khanyisa’s environmental authorisation had lapsed on 31 October 2018, and that the activities it undertook in relation to the project were unlawful.

ACWA disputes the DEFF’s ruling.

Without a valid environmental authorisation, ACWA cannot legally commence building the power plant. It also cannot reach commercial or financial close under the Coal IPP Programme without an environmental authorisation, risking its “preferred bidder” status under the Coal IPP Programme.

On 5 February 2020, groundWork amended its court papers to ask the High Court to confirm DEFF’s ruling that Khanyisa’s environmental authorisation indeed expired on 31 October 2018. If this is confirmed by the High Court, ACWA will need to apply afresh for an environmental authorisation for the Khanyisa plant – a process that will likely take several years.

Some of the many reasons why this private coal plant should never be allowed to proceed include:

• Thousands of Mpumalanga and Gauteng residents, including children, are already dying prematurely and suffering from respiratory and other diseases every year as a result of having to breathe the toxic air from the Highveld Priority Area – home to 12 Eskom coal-fired power stations, Sasol’s enormous coal-to-liquids complex and hundreds of coal mines. Pollution from the proposed Khanyisa private coal plant would make this situation even worse.
• The power station’s proposed technology would result in high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, when South Africa is already the world’s 14^th largest emitter of GHGs.
• The power station would cost ordinary South African citizens an additional R6.73 billion in comparison to a least-cost clean electricity system, which will not help to provide South Africans with affordable electricity.

groundWork Director Bobby Peek points out that: “The 2019 Integrated Resource Plan confirms that private coal power plants do not form part of a least-cost plan for South Africa’s energy future. Khanyisa is a project South Africa doesn’t need, and cannot afford – not only in terms of its financial cost, but because of its negative health and climate implications.”

“Khanyisa’s GHG emissions would exacerbate the climate crisis at a time when South Africa is already dealing with major climate impacts. Our Constitutional right to a healthy environment demands a radical reduction of our reliance on coal for electricity generation, and a clear trajectory towards clean energy”, says Michelle Koyama, attorney at the Centre for Environmental Rights.

The High Court’s pronouncement on the issue of the expired authorisation will clarify whether this is an insurmountable hurdle, and will ensure a permanent halt to this hazardous, dirty and costly project.

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For media queries, contact Lerato Letebele Balendran on [email protected] or 079 071 7442

Notes to the editor:

• Court papers in the judicial review of Khanyisa environmental authorisation
• Why the coal-fired power station IPPs are unlikely to get out of the starting-blocks, 20 September 2018

Life After Coal/Impilo Ngaphandle Kwamalahle is a joint campaign by Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, groundWork, and the Centre for Environmental Rights. We aim to: discourage the development of new coal-fired power stations and mines; reduce emissions from existing coal infrastructure and encourage a coal phase-out; and enable a just transition to sustainable energy systems for the people.