SA saved from the R12.57bn environmental disaster that Thabametsi would have been
More private coal plant projects are likely to be abandoned as banks start to constrain their funding
Two weeks ago plans for the 557MW Thabametsi coal-fired power station, to be built outside Lephalale, Limpopo, were shelved for good. More private coal plant projects are likely to follow suit. Thabametsi would have been a climate and environmental disaster that would have cost our country R12.57bn more than a least-cost electricity system.
In 2015, the year SA ratified the Paris climate agreement, as many as 13 private coal power plants were being planned under the 1,000MW coal-baseload independent power producer procurement programme. The following year two coal power plants, Thabametsi and Khanyisa, were announced as preferred bidders under the first bid window of this programme...
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