Engineering and environmental consultants Jones & Wagener announced earlier this month that it had been appointed to undertake an environmental-impact assessment for the proposed construction of two loop-in and loop-out 400 kV power lines to connect the approved KiPower independent power producer (IPP) coal-fired power plant to State-owned power utility Eskom’s national grid.

Jones & Wagener was appointed by local coal mining and beneficiation company Kuyasa Mining on behalf of its subsidiary, KiPower.

The proposed 400 kV power lines are intended to be constructed between the KiPower IPP power plant, south-east of Delmas, in Mpumalanga, and a connection point on the existing Matla-Glockner 400 kV power line, about 12 km south-east of the N17 national highway.

The environmental impact report (EIR) and the environmental management programme (EMPr) have been finalised and submitted to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) for review. The Final EIR and EMPr will also be made available to the public.

The environmental authorisation for the proposed project will be granted or denied based on the DEA’s findings, after which stakeholders will be notified within 12 days of the DEA’s decision being handed down.

Based on the outcome of the decision, further applications, such as for an integrated water use licence, may be applied for.

Meanwhile, Mining Weekly reported in May that KiPower was granted integrated environmental authorisation for the construction of the 600 MW KiPower IPP power plant in November 2015, which is planned to be developed within 5 km of Kuyasa’s Delmas coal operation, in Mpumalanga, from which it will source coal, including reclaimed discard coal.

The $1.7-billion facility could potentially be expanded to produce up to 2 000 MW in the longer term.

The project will include the development of four 150 MW circulating fluidised bed units, each boasting a 400 kV three-phase transformer, as well as an ash disposal facility.

An 812-m-long sorbent conveyer will transport sorbent from a railway siding to the overland coal conveyers, which will carry the coal from the Delmas mine to the new power plant.