by Roger Lilley, Energize

Eskom's Komati, Grootvlei, and Lethabo coal-fired power stations are slowly being prepared to transition to cleaner energy sources. 

Komati is Eskom's oldest station. It was completed in 1966 and was shut down last year. Grootvlei power station, which had been completed in 1977, had been taken out of service and mothballed in the 1990s but returned to service in 2010. Lethabo is relatively young, having been built in 1985.

Together these three power stations could, theoretically, generate almost 6000 MW of electricity. But, ageing equipment, poor maintenance, deteriorating coal quality, and other factors have reduced that capacity significantly.

Now, these power stations are to be redesigned to produce power from cleaner primary fuels, including solar, wind, batteries and/or synchronous condensers. As its power plants are transitioned from coal to cleaner technologies, the utility will focus on preserving jobs and utilising existing grid capacity across South Africa. These projects will prioritise Mpumalanga’s oldest coal plants.

Eskom says that its commitment to a Just Energy Transition, which would result in the modification of its old, coal-fired power stations - which emit harmful particulates and noxious gases into the atmosphere - to modern, clean-energy power producers, would impact thousands of jobs and local economies where these power stations are situated. The utility says that since it seeks to mitigate this impact as much as possible, socio-economic studies to understand the impact of the closure of the coal plants are underway. 

Komati power station

Eskom has issued a tender seeking a service provider to drive the Komati Power Station socio-economic development plan, and to assist with the transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Part of the plan includes the management and implementation of mitigation measures for the socio-economic impacts resulting from the shutdown of the coal-fired generating units at Eskom's Komati Power Station. The last of the fossil-fired units at Komati reached its end of operational life in October 2022 and was shut down. The plan is to construct a 100 MW solar PV plant, with an integrated 150 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) at the Komati site.

The repowering and repurposing of the power station will be funded through a concessional loan facility from the World Bank. The loan facility broadly covers the decommissioning, repurposing and repowering of the station and critical elements of the Just Energy Transition to provide a second life to the power station. This includes the establishment of an Agrivoltaics test facility, a containerised microgrid assembly and manufacturing facility, a training centre for employee and community members, and a community upliftment programme that this tender seeks to address.

Grootvlei power station

Eskom is receiving assistance from the Netherlands in the conversion of Grootvlei from coal to clean technologies. Eskom and the Netherlands signed a Letter of Intent recently which will result in the Netherlands supporting Eskom’s strategy and plans to train and upskill workers from its power station and the local community. The utility wants to develop and implement a climate-smart horticulture and agriculture demonstration facility which could result in the creation of a market in the region for profitable, productive, sustainable, and climate-smart farming. Relevant knowledge and skills will be transferred, and local enterprises’ business cases will be improved to promote the creation of new enterprises.

Lethabo power station

Furthermore, the power utility announced recently that its Lethabo coal-fired power station would soon be complemented with a 75 MW solar PV plant. This is the result of a decision taken last year to offer open land around existing power stations to private power producers for the purpose of renewable (mostly solar PV) projects. The main advantage of placing a new PV plant next to an existing power station is easy access to the evacuation point into the transmission network.

More renewables

There is also the possibility of a 19,5 MW solar PV plant being installed at Eskom's Sere Wind Farm in the Western Cape.