New emissions rules ‘may lead to more power cuts’

• Eskom cautions after postponement bids failed

The government’s decision to deny Eskom a postponement in implementing tighter air quality regulations at five of its power stations will harm its ability to provide electricity, the stateowned utility said on Tuesday. The decision would require the immediate shutting down of 16,000MW of installed coalfired capacity — a third of its total installed generating capacity — even though capacity is already constrained and has resulted in repeated load-shedding.

The government’s decision to deny Eskom a postponement in implementing tighter air quality regulations at five of its power stations will negatively affect its ability to provide electricity, the state-owned utility said on Tuesday.

The decision requires the immediate shutting down of 16,000MW of installed coalfired capacity — a third of its total installed generating capacity — even though capacity is already constrained and has resulted in repeated load-shedding.

Eskom’s request for postponements in meeting obligations to implement air quality regulations at Matla, Duvha, Matimba, Medupi and Lethabo were rejected out of hand by the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment.

Postponement applications for Majuba, Tutuka, Kendal, and Kriel were partially granted. Postponements were granted for the plants at Grootvlei, Arnot, Hendrina, Camden, Komati, Acacia and Port Rex, several of which are reaching the end of their lifespans.

The decisions “will have a very significant impact on Eskom’s ability to provide electricity. If implemented [they] will result in an immediate shutting down of 16,000MW of installed coal-fired capacity,” Eskom said in a statement.

“This would have a significant negative impact on the economy and employment, particularly in Mpumalanga and Lephalale, and delay the country’s plans for a just energy transition towards a cleaner electricity supply.”

Eskom said it was in discussions with the environment, public enterprises, mineral resources and energy and other departments on the matter.

All Eskom’s coal and liquid fuel-fired power stations must meet the minimum emission standards in terms of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act.

But the utility, which is already burdened by debt of just more than R400bn, told the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment that full compliance with the standards will cost more than R300bn without adding any capacity to the national grid.

“If funding were available, and if it were possible to execute all the compliance projects in time to meet the requirements, these projects would add at least 10% to the existing electricity tariff,” Eskom said in Tuesday’s statement.

The minimum emission regulations provide time frames for compliance with air quality and emission limits at plants and a one-off postponement for compliance with minimum emissions for “new” plants for five years from the date of issue.

No one-off postponement will be valid beyond end-March 2025 and a one-off suspension will be allowed for plants being decommissioned by end-March 2030. The national air quality officer may grant an alternative emission limit or emission loads if certain conditions are met.

Eskom said that during 2019 and 2020, it submitted applications for postponement, suspension and/or alternative limits of the minimum emission standards for 16 of its power stations after an extensive public participation process.

Eskom said among the reasons for the extension requests was that its planned emissionreduction plan involves investment in technology retrofitting, the progressive closure of older stations, and a move to a cleaner energy mix. These initiatives would result in a substantial reduction of emissions over time.

According to these plans emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide would be reduced by 58%, 46% and 66%, respectively, by 2035. Furthermore, it is envisaged that carbon dioxide emissions would decrease 50% by 2035.

“There are very significant additional water requirements associated with installing emission-reduction technology for sulphur dioxide, which would increase Eskom’s present water demand by some 20%.”

Such an increase “is not considered appropriate in a waterstressed country such as SA,” Eskom told the department.

“There are significant practicality challenges to implementing the required upgrades within the legal time frames without causing national electricity capacity issues.”

Another argument put forward by Eskom was that the ambient (as opposed to point source) air quality in the affected regions must be improved to limit the effect of air quality on the health of communities.

Except for particulate matter, the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide ambient air quality standards are generally complied with, Eskom said, and urged decision-makers weighing its application to preferably consider the full range of sustainable development issues rather than focus on stack/point source emissions.

Four of the postponements were granted for power stations that are reaching the end of their lifespans. The coal-fired power stations are scheduled to shut down by 2030, with Komati scheduled to shut its last unit in September 2022 and Hendrina before 2025. The two peaking stations, Acacia and Port Rex, reach their 50-year life in 2026/2027.

“We believe that the just energy transition strategy as proposed by Eskom is a constructive way of transitioning to a cleaner environment, while deploying limited funds to create additional generation capacity, rather than investing money in retrofitting expensive technology at ageing coal-fired plants with a limited remaining life.

“We look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure this,” Eskom said.