Photo by: Duane Daws
The final reports relating to the environmental authorisation and other licence applications for Kuyasa Mining subsidiary KiPower’s proposed 600 MW power plant about 20 km south-east of Delmas, in Mpumalanga, will be published for public review on Tuesday, engineering and environmental consultancy Jones & Wagener said on Monday.
The reports, which would be available for review until June 3, included the environmental-impact assessment report, the environmental management programme, the waste management licence application report and the atmospheric emissions licence application report.
The coal-fired power plant, which would procure coal from the nearby Delmas coal mine, aimed to supply a portion of the 42.6 GW of electricity that would be required to service the country’s energy needs by 2030.
It may, subject to several further studies and authorisations, be expanded to produce up to 2 000 MW in the long term.
Required infrastructure would include a coal conveyor between the Delmas coal colliery and the plant, a limestone conveyor between the plant and the rail line, a water supply pipeline from an existing Rand Water line, an ash disposal facility and an ash conveyor.
KiPower had targeted production for 2015 and expected the first of the plant’s three units to be operational by 2018.