As it strains aging facilities to their limits, four of South Africa’s state utility Eskom’s 15 coal-fired power stations are breaking government emissions standards, according to a Reuters study of company data and confirmation from Eskom executives.
The most developed economy in Africa is currently experiencing its greatest power crisis in history, needing daily planned rolling blackouts of up to 10 hours, popularly known as “loadshedding,” over the past 18 months due to a persistent electrical shortage.
The infractions, which last year helped buck a four-decade trend of reducing emissions of so-called particulate matter – primarily ash and soot – were known to two top Eskom officials and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, they told Reuters.
Making the plants comply, they claimed, would take time and may jeopardize attempts to alleviate the electricity shortage.
This forces South Africa to decide between maintaining the lights and safeguarding the well-being of its inhabitants for the time being.
Inquiries from Reuters on the emissions breaches received no response from the environment ministry.
“Our system is restricted. The emissions violations are simply due to a lack of room for maintenance, and occasionally, a trade-off is necessary, according to Deidre Herbst, Eskom’s senior environmental manager.
Even though coal is used to generate around 80% of South Africa’s energy, Eskom has cut particulate matter emissions by 75% because of a program of plant renovations that was started in the 1980s, Herbst said.
She said that Eskom is forced to operate plants harder and postpone improvements to maintain generating power since power outages are predicted to reduce economic growth this year by two percentage points.
According to an internal Eskom presentation examined by Reuters, the company’s particle emissions last year were at their highest levels since the early 1990s.
Herbst said that the power plants had violated emissions restrictions for six to twelve months and stated, “We’ve been struggling a bit in the last couple of years.”
According to the most recent month of data available from Eskom, two of the four plants violating the law—Matimba, Matla, Kendal, and Kriel—were releasing more than double the amount of particulate matter in February.
According to statistics from Eskom for January, the 35-year-old Kendal power plant emits between 10 and 30 times the permitted limit on average.
Lauri Myllyvirta, chief analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Finnish environmental research organization, said: “It’s a health hazard.”
Myllyvirta, who has spent over a decade researching Eskom’s environmental effect, claimed that South Africa’s emissions limits are much less stringent than most industrialized countries.
Even when they adhere to their emission guidelines, these plants significantly negatively impact the air quality and human health. But these breaches serve to exacerbate the situation, he added.
HARDER HITTING THE POOR
Three of the four facilities are in the coal belt of the Mpumalanga province, one of the poorest regions of South Africa, with over half the workforce jobless.
More than 5,000 people perished there each year, according to an unpublished government report that Reuters examined in 2021 because the government didn’t effectively enforce its air quality guidelines.
According to Thomas Mnguni, a community organizer with the environmental non-profit GroundWork in Mpumalanga, poor communities close to coal mines and Eskom facilities were particularly heavily struck.
“We won’t accept the idea that Eskom can pollute as much as they want because of load shedding,” he stated.
Eskom can be sued by the environment ministry for emissions infractions to either make the company adhere to rules or cease operations. However, the procedure may take years.
The Kendal facility has previously been accused of breaking the law between 2015 and 2017 by the authorities. However, that lawsuit’s first hearing isn’t scheduled until November.
Over a third of Eskom’s total available power capacity, or 10,000 megawatts, is produced by the four facilities that violate emissions limitations.
Eskom’s Herbst claimed that although Kriel and Matimba facilities could easily be brought in line with the rules, Kendal posed a more difficult task.
Eskom’s chief of generation, Bheki Nxumalo, told Reuters that the corporation recognized the need to prioritize repairing Highly polluting units.
He said that one of Kendal’s producing units was already down due to Eskom’s one-by-one maintenance and upgrade work on its six units.
“That is why our outages are so prolonged now,” he remarked. “Most plants will be within limits (in the) next two years.”
