The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has rejected the final environmental-impact assessment (EIA) report for Kuyasa Mining subsidiary KiPower’s proposed 600 MW coal-fired power plant and associated infrastructure.
The DEA has rejected the report, submitted in February, because it needs additional information on the cumulative impacts of the proposed power line connection and on State-owned power utility Eskom’s mooted agreement with regard to the proposed connection options of the independent power producer (IPP).
The department has also requested that an assessment of the option not to implement the proposed IPP plant and associated infrastructure be included, and that the Environmental Management Programme document be a standalone document, separate from the EIA report.
The proposed $1.7-billion coal-fired plant, to be located near Delmas, in Mpumalanga, will use coal from the nearby Delmas mine to meet a portion of South Africa’s electricity 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.
Engineering and environmental consultancy Jones & Wagener said last month that the additional information required for the EIA report would be available from March 27 to April 28 for public comment.
The DEA will reconsider the EIA report on receipt of all the outstanding information.