South Africa: Eskom Shuts Down Komati Coal-Fired Power Plant

South Africa’s power utility company, Eskom, on Monday, shut down its coal-fired Komati Power Station in Mpumalanga and announced a new plan for the location of the plant.

The shutdown follows what Eskom says is the end of the plant’s operating lifespan.

Eskom, in a statement, indicated that the shutting down of the plant would not have a significant impact on South Africa’s national electricity grid as the one remaining unit was contributing only 121MW to the grid.

Opened in 1961, Komati is the first of South Africa’s coal-fired power stations to be decommissioned.

“The decommissioning of the power station has followed a diligent process which comprised undertaking a socio-economic impact study. Eskom has held extensive engagements with the employees, labour unions, the community and all affected stakeholders and communicated the requirement to shut down the plant timeously and clearly with everyone involved.”

Touching on the new plan for the site of the power station, Eskom said the power plant would be converted into a renewable generation site powered with 150MW of solar, 70MW of wind and 150MW of storage batteries, thereby, continuing to put the site and its associated transmission infrastructure into good use and promote economic opportunities to the community.

Eskom said it has since developed a Just Energy Transition (JET) Strategy “which places equal importance on the ‘transition to lower carbon technologies, and the ability to do so in a manner that is ‘just’ and sustainable.”

According to the utility company, it has transferred the majority of Komati employees from the power station to support and augment skills in other power stations and areas of the business in line with operational requirements.

“No employee will lose their jobs as a result of the closure.”

The company said it has commenced the development of the Komati Training Facility to facilitate the re-skilling, retraining and up-skilling of Eskom employees and members of the community.

Eskom has already signed a partnership agreement with the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre (SARETEC) of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) to develop the training facility.

Funding for this facility, which would enable a transition for the local community following the decommissioning of the power station, has already been received from one of the developmental finance institutions (DFIs) and Eskom would make an official announcement in due course.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com