South Africa can keep coal fired plants running longer, climate
committee says
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[May 16, 2023]
By Carien du Plessis and Bhargav Acharya
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa's climate policy body on Monday
suggested the government could delay retiring its ageing coal-fired
power plants to address electricity shortages and said a power crisis
had put the country on track to meet its climate goals anyway.
The ruling African National Congress has recommended that state power
utility Eskom delay the decommissioning of its ageing coal-fired power
stations to help minimise rolling electricity outages.
However, it is also committed to a plan - partly funded to the tune of
$8.5 billion by the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the
European Union - to accelerate a shift away from coal and towards solar
and wind energy.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the total cost could prove 10 times
higher than what Western donors are offering to finance.
"The least-cost approach is to pull the coal plants off when they reach
the end of their economic life," said Crispian Olver, executive director
of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC).
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This would be the point at which it costs more to maintain them than let
them go.
"Moving the decommissioning ... by a couple of years is ... not going to
fundamentally affect our NDC (nationally determined contributions to
emissions reductions)," he added. "We are making good progress (on)
emission reductions partly because of the extent of (power cuts) ... and
anemic economic growth".
South Africa relies on coal for electricity. As a result, it coughed out
430 megatonnes of CO2 in 2021, making it the world's 14th biggest carbon
emitter, according to data from Global Carbon Atlas. That put it ahead
of Britain, Mexico and Australia, all of which are much bigger
economies.
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![](../images/051623pix/news_k21.jpg)
Aerial view of parts of the residential
area that are affected by frequent power outages implemented by
South African utility Eskom due to its aging coal-fired plants, in
Johannesburg, South Africa, February 24, 2023. REUTERS/Siphiwe
Sibeko
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South Africa's national target for emissions reductions is 398-510
MtCO2e by 2025, and 350-420 MtCO2e by 2030.
"It is crucial that ... South Africa's efforts to reach its climate
goals and transition to a more sustainable economy ...(are) not
jeopardised," the German embassy said, while admitting that Germany
itself had had to delay decommissioning some coal-fired plants
because of the global energy crisis.
"In South Africa it is already cheaper to build new renewable energy
and storage than maintain some of the existing Eskom power
stations," it said in a statement.
A South African government source, who declined to be named, said
South African officials had met diplomats from the donor countries
over the possibility of delay on April 28.
Eskom has been implementing power cuts that last more than 10 hours
a day for most households – the worst on record – crippling
businesses in Africa's most industrialised economy.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Carien du Plessis; Editing by Tim
Cocks, Bernadette Baum and Angus MacSwan)
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