[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa’s environmental affairs department (DEA) said Eskom could apply for an extension that would allow it five more years to comply with the Minimum Emission Standards of the Air Quality Act.
Citing Eskom spokesman, Andrew Etzinger, Bloomberg News said earlier today that the power utility was planning to shut some 2,000MW to 3,000MW of electricity capacity in January generated by Kriel power station as it had been operating outside the license conditions of the act since the middle of 2013.
“We expect that the power system will be very constrained during January which would mean pressure on reserve margins,’ Etzinger told Bloomberg News.
However, Abie Modise, spokesman for the DEA, said the department had offered Eskom the opportunity of an extension. “We have offered Eskom the opportunity to speak to us about an extension, not an exemption from license conditions,” said Modise.
“This would postpone compliance for about five years. We are open to discussions and are waiting for Eskom’s reply,” he said.
Etzinger told Miningmx there was a way forward. “I’m sure this will be resolved,” he said in a telephonic interview. He added that the January deadline for complience was an Eskom board target.
Meeting emission standards at Kriel required some R7bn worth of development and would require staged downtime, Etzinger added.
In a statement today, the DEA said Eskom had previously raised issues regarding its failure to operation in compliance with the Atmospheric Emission Licenses for Kriel and two other power stations, Duvha and Matla.
“In light of this, deliberations have been held between the director-generals of the Departments of Environmental Affairs, Public Enterprises, Water, and Energy as well as Eskom to address the expressed compliance failures by Eskom,” it said.
Said Modise: “We are mindful of the fact that the power plants are old and have been operational long before the environmental legislation were applied. We would like to accommodate economic growth but not at the expense of environmental protection”.
Etzinger said there was a requirement for Duvha and Matla power stations to be retrofitted to meet environmental standards, but that work on these stations was less urgent than at Kriel.
