Name of the Project
Thabametsi independent power producer coal-fired power station project.

Location
The project will be built near Lephalale, in South Africa’s Limpopo province, adjacent to Exxaro’s Grootegeluk coal mine.

Client
Thabametsi Power Company, sponsored by Marubeni Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco).

Project Description
The power project was selected as a preferred bidder in the first bid window of the South African Department of Energy’s Coal Baseload Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (CBIPPPP) in October 2016.

The project involves the construction of a 630 MW capacity circulating fluidised-bed coal-fired power plant comprising two 315 MW units, which will be fuelled by Exxaro Resources’ Thabametsi coal mine.

The aim is to increase the plant’s capacity to 1 200 MW, according to the project’s climate change study and palaeontological impact assessment released in June 2017.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at $2-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
The power plant is expected to be operational in 2021. The project was included in the draft Integrated Resource Plan, or IRP2018, in August 2018.

Latest Developments
Kepco will either cancel its investment in Thabametsi or transition the project to gas, Seoul-based nongovernmental organisation Solutions for Our Climate said in a statement on October 16.

Th statement said Kepco would no longer invest in overseas coal projects, a move which will also impact on the Sual 2 venture, in the Philippines.

According to Solutions for Our Climate, Kepco CEO Kim Jong-gap stated during an annual governmental audit hearing by the Korean national assembly that the utility planned to cancel or convert two remaining overseas coal power projects in its pipeline – Sual 2 and the 630 MW Thabametsi plant – to liquefied natural gas.

Environmentalists in South Africa have been working for several years to discourage the development of new coal-fired power stations, which they say will have a high pollution impact, be economically costly and raise greenhouse-gas emissions.

In a victory for the environmental groups, a landmark decision by South Africa’s Water Tribunal in August confirmed that water licensing authorities must consider the impacts of climate change when deciding whether to grant water-use licences to coal-fired power stations.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co (provisional engineering, procurement and construction contract).

Contact Details for Project Information
Marubeni Corporation, tel +27 11 290 6000 or fax +27 11 784 4846.