FEEDING ENERGY
The proposed $1.7-billion coal-fired plant, to be located near Delmas, Mpumalanga, could use coal from the nearby Delmas mine to meet a portion of South Africa’s power needs
Photo by: Bloomberg
The public review period for the integrated water use licence application for the proposed construction of a 600 MW coal-fired independent power producer plant and associated infrastructure for Kuyasa Mining subsidiary KiPower will be extended to March 24.
The draft report was made available for public review between July 23 and September 2, 2014, followed by the release of an updated report in December.
Engineering and environmental consultancy Jones & Wagener (J&W) says that, owing to requests for an extension of the review period, the report will be available on the J&W website until March 24.
It will also be available for review at the Leandra, Devon and Delmas public libraries.
The water uses identified and applied for under the National Water Act include the abstraction of contaminated water, the storage of water at the power plant and ash disposal facility (ADF) and impeding or diverting the flow of water in a watercourse owing to road upgrades, as well as the development of a Wilge River bridge crossing, conveyors, power plant, an ADF and a wetland offset project.
KiPower had also applied for stormwater discharges from the construction area, the discharge of excess treated water during operations in times of extreme rainfall events and disposing of waste in a manner which could detrimentally impact on a water resource.
The proposed $1.7-billion coal-fired plant, to be located near Delmas, Mpumalanga, could use coal from the nearby Delmas mine to meet a portion of South Africa’s power needs and has the potential to be expanded to produce up to 2 000 MW in the long term.
KiPower expects construction on the power plant to begin this year, with the first of the plant’s three units to be operational by 2018.