Grootvlei power station

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Grootvlei power station is an operating power station of at least 600-megawatts (MW) in Grootvlei, Gert Sibande, Mpumalanga, South Africa with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Grootvlei power station	Grootvlei, Gert Sibande, Mpumalanga, South Africa	-26.768494, 28.497758 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6: -26.768494, 28.497758

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	operating	coal: bituminous	200	subcritical	1973	2030 (planned)
Unit 2	operating	coal: bituminous	200	subcritical	1970	2030 (planned)
Unit 3	operating	coal: bituminous	200	subcritical	1969	2030 (planned)
Unit 4	mothballed	coal: bituminous	200	subcritical	1969	2030 (planned)
Unit 5	mothballed	coal: bituminous	190	subcritical	1971	2030 (planned)
Unit 6	mothballed	coal: bituminous	200	subcritical	1977	2030 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 2	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 3	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 4	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 5	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 6	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100%]	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd [100.0%]

Background

The Grootvlei Power Station is a coal-fired station owned by the South African publicly-owned electricity utility Eskom, located at Balfour, Mpumalanga. The power station consists of six units of approximately 200 MW each. The first unit was commissioned in 1969, and the last in 1977. Three of Grootvlei's units were mothballed in 1989 and the rest in 1990. Eskom recommissioned three units in each of 2008 and 2009. Unit 5 was re-optimised to full capacity and reclassified from 160 MW to 190 MW in April 2013.

In March 2017, Eskom said that it would hold meetings with the government and labour to discuss its plans to decommission five power stations over the next five years: Komati Power Station, Hendrina Power Station, Kriel Power Station, Grootvlei Power Station, and Camden Power Station. Eskom said the stations were old and unneeded, given the country's plans for new power capacity by independent power producers (IPPs). The plant's six units were planned for retirement by 2020.

In 2017, two older coal-fired units from Eskom's Grootvlei Power Station, one older unit from Eskom's Hendrina Power Station, and two older units from Eskom's Komati Power Station were placed into cold reserve because their running costs were higher than other units. A government spokesman said that the old stations were expected to remain uneconomical to run, even if refurbished, compared to renewable energy IPP power options and the company's newer stations at Medupi and Kusile.

In May 2020, it was reported that Eskom had changed its plans on closing the Grootvlei plant as well as its Camden and Hendrina plants. These plants, which were scheduled to close between 2020 and 2026, would now stay open until 2030. Eskom subsequently changed the closure date to 2025.

In October 2021, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment granted Eskom with positive environmental compliance postponement decisions for Grootvlei as it was scheduled to shut down.

At the beginning of 2022, South Africa dealt with major loadshedding power outages due to failing Eskom infrastructure. The Grootvlei plant is among those cited for contributing to the depletion of emergency reserves.

In December 2022, it was reported that the government had deployed members of the South African National Defence Force to Grootvlei, Majuba, Camden, and Tutuka power stations in response to theft and vandalism at the plants.

In July 2023, a boiler room fire put Unit 2 out of action pending repairs. The unit was back online by early August.

Just Energy Transition and repurposing plans

In November 2020, the World Bank Group invited expressions of interest from consultants to assess the implications of retiring the Camden, Hendrina, Grootvlei, and Komati coal plants. The consultant were to look at the technical, environmental, socioeconomic, and financial implications of decommissioning the plants to help inform the WBG’s future engagement with South Africa.

Eskom was looking at options for repurposing the plants with the core aims of “reusing existing power transmission infrastructure, developing new generation capacity, providing ancillary services, and mitigating socioeconomic impact. In addition to conversion to gas or use of the site for renewable generation or battery storage, parts of the infrastructure can be used for ancillary services such as frequency and voltage control and inertia. It launched a request for information in May 2020 following an internal technical review.”

As of August 2021, a repowering and repurposing project similar to developments at the Komati Power Station was planned at the Grootvlei plant, now scheduled for closure by 2025.

In July 2022, Eskom announced that South Africa would be collaborating with the Netherlands on repurposing the facility. A pre-feasibility study was underway.

In November 2022, Eskom stated at the COP27 conference that €10 million from German development bank KfW had been secured for the development of a renewable energy training facility at the site. According to Eskom's CEO, there were about 16,000 vacancies in the wind and solar industries because people had not yet been trained for those roles.

According to an article from December 2022, Eskom would release a report describing the "detailed mitigation and implementation plan" for the Grootvlei power station and invite public comments "early next year." The same article noted that some employees at the power plant were concerned about uncertainty stemming from the Just Energy Transition process and were unaware of what the skills training would entail.

In June 2023, Eskom and the Netherlands signed a new letter of intent (LOI) to collaborate on "‘Just’ initiatives" as the Grootvlei power station "transitions from coal generation into a renewable energy hub."

In October 2023, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called on the South Africa government to suspend the Just Energy Transition Partnership. The NUM, which is the largest union representing staff employed by Eskom, said in a statement that they wanted "further consultations on the transition plan because of the threat it poses to as many as 51,000 jobs." In the wake of the NUM's call, the Electricity Minister said no more Eskom coal plants would be closed to be replaced by renewables, a change of course on repowering and repurposing plans reported in August 2021.

In November 2023, the South African government approved the US$8.8 billion Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. The final deal was expected to be revealed at the upcoming COP28 climate conference. South Africa's Minister for Forestry, Fisheries and Environment said that part of the funding would support initiatives in Mpumalanga province, which is "currently heavily dependent on coal."

According to reporting from ESI Africa in May 2024, Eskom had begun development on "large-scale renewables" at Camden power station, Hendrina power station, and Grootvlei power station. The company had also "identified opportunities for repurposing these stations for alternative economic activity including but not limited to ash beneficiation, training centres and climate smart agricultural activities."

Possible delay in retirement

In March 2023, the Minister of Electricity reportedly visited the Grootvlei power station and told workers there that "Grootvlei is an important player in the resolution of load shedding. We are searching for the megawatts and Grootvlei's life can’t be up to 2027 because this country’s future goes beyond 2027."

In April 2023, it was reported that the Minister of Electricity had proposed to delay the retirement of some of Eskom's older coal-fired plants to help alleviate the country's energy crisis. Energy analysts have reportedly warned that extending the life of aging coal plants in South Africa was likely to jeopardize access to the US$8.5 billion Just Energy Transition funding aimed at accelerating renewable energy projects in the country.

According to reports from May 2023, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that planned retirements of coal plants would slow down. He reportedly stated that the government could not "run away" from decommissioning aging power plants, but that "the timetable and scheduling of decommissioning must be relooked at." Standard Chartered, one of the largest lenders in Africa, reportedly warned that government plans to extend the life of Eskom's coal plants would make attracting investment to South Africa harder, as investors would be wary of being trapped in stranded fossil fuel assets.

As of October 2023, the South African government was reviewing their 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and expecting to release an updated IRP before the end of the year. During the review, it was reportedly proposed that coal plant decommissioning dates scheduled for before 2030 be delayed until 2030 and later. A study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) published in October 2023 estimated that postponing decommissioning until after 2030 would cause 15,300 excess air pollution-related deaths.

In May 2024, Bloomberg reporting indicated that South Africa will request that JETP partnership funders agree to the delay of coal closures at an upcoming meeting. The government will reportedly propose that the retirement dates of Camden power station, Grootvlei power station, and Hendrina power station be delayed to 2027-2030. Later in the month, Eskom's board of directors approved the plan to delay closure at the three power stations to 2030. Also in late May 2024, South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission stated that analysis would be released on the retirement delays' impact on the country's climate commitments.

In July 2024, the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) published their report on South Africa’s climate action, and warned that “contradictory” public policies and positions about the coal phaseout were contributing to a delay in implementing measures to support the country’s just transition. The PCC noted that Eskom was already behind schedule in decommissioning coal plants, and that the delayed closures of the Camden, Grootvlei, and Hendrina plants “will put the country even further off track”.

According to reporting from September 2024, Germany — a JETP partnership funder — was seeking to gain a better understanding of South Africa’s revised coal closure timetable and the impact on greenhouse gas emission reductions.

SO2 emissions control exemption

In May 2024, South Africa's Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment approved an exemption for Hendrina power station, Kriel power station, Grootvlei power station, Camden power station, and Arnot power station from a 2010 sulphur dioxide emissions control rule. The power stations were authorized to operate through 2030 without meeting the standard. In June 2024, Eskom indicated that it intended to apply for exemptions for Matla power station, Duvha power station, Tutuka power station, and Kendal power station as well.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.