After a lengthy appeals and consultation, environmental affairs minister Barbara Creecy granted Eskom’s request for suspension of minimum emissions standards (MES) limits at some of its older power stations.
“This allows these stations (Hendrina, Grootvlei, Arnot, Camden and Kriel) to continue to operate at existing MES plant limits until March 31 2030,” said Eskom.
National Environmental Management Act air quality regulations specify that coal power plants must meet the limits by a certain time or they would be noncompliant and unable to operate legally.
Eskom warned previously of the risk posed by the possible implementation of minimum standards. This was after the national air quality officer decided in November 2021 to rein in Eskom’s coal-fired power stations’ emissions.
That would have required immediate shutdown of 15.9GW of coal-fired generation capacity and about 30GW by April 2025 when existing postponements lapsed. NGOs and Eskom appealed against the national air quality officer’s decisions on requests for suspension and/or postponement of compliance.
Eskom appealed against the department’s refusal to allow postponement of compliance at some power stations including Matla, Duvha, Matimba, Medupi and Lethabo power stations.
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), acting for groundWork and Earthlife Africa, appealed on grounds such as the decision to grant suspension of compliance for Camden, Hendrina, Arnot, Komati, Grootvlei and Kriel power stations without detailed and clear decommissioning schedules accompanying the applications.
Creecy appointed an expert panel in 2022 to advise her on the appeals. The panel submitted its recommendations to Creecy in April and they were considered in the decision published by Creecy in May.
Eskom told Business Day that for stations for which suspension was granted (those due for decommissioning by 2030), Creecy’s decision confirms new MES limits.
“Eskom has been directed to submit decommissioning plans within 12 months of the decision to facilitate the closure of these stations by March 2030,” Eskom said.
This means Eskom will not have to spend more on most of these stations as it already completed emission upgrades necessary to comply with MES limits. But it has to spend about R1.8bn at Kriel power station to complete particulate matter upgrades.
Creecy did not specifically give approval for power stations to shut down after 2030, where Eskom applied for postponement of MES limits compliance.
“For the power stations shutting down post-2030 Eskom has been directed to submit exemption applications within 60 days of the issuance of the decision. This exemption application will allow Eskom to request additional time to comply with the MES limits (beyond 2025) or to request alternate limits,” said Eskom.
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