South Africa is poised to delay the retirement of about a fifth of its coal-fired electricity-generation capacity as gas projects earmarked to replace them remain behind schedule, contrasting a decline in use of the dirtiest fossil fuel in other developing nations.<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s largest economy, which relies on coal to generate about 80% of its electricity, had planned to shut 8 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity by 2030 according to its Integrated Resource Plan 2025, but the new capacity planned to take its place \u2014 6 gigawatts of gas-powered generation \u2014 is behind schedule and tied up in legal processes.<\/p>\n
That leaves few options outside of running the aging plants beyond their intended lifespans, according to government officials and an executive at state-owned Eskom, with many pointing out further obstacles to the switch, ranging from equipment availability to the cost of gas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at it,\u201d Bheki Nxumalo, the utility\u2019s head of generation, said about running the coal units for longer.<\/p>\n
A wait of around five years for gas turbines from suppliers such as Siemens AG and General Electric means Eskom will already miss the deadline, he said on the sidelines of a Cape Town conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless the order is in, the backlog is just too high,\u201d Nxumalo said.<\/p>\n
Eskom\u2019s current plans are to shut about 7.4 gigawatts of coal net capacity by 2030.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt must be noted that this plan hinges on all projects as envisaged in the IRP25 materialising on time,\u201d the utility said in an emailed response to questions.<\/p>\n
As a result, the shrinking timeline to build a station fired by gas \u2014 a fuel South Africa does not produce domestically and must import \u2014 is driving Eskom toward a second life extension of coal plants in as many years. The utility approved a plan in 2024 to keep some stations open to ensure supply, just as it was bringing to an end blackouts that plagued the economy.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the use of coal in power generation is falling away. It dropped last year in China for the first time in more than a decade, along with India, according to the International Energy Agency. The Iran war has since caused a surge in the use and price of coal due to the cut-off of gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s transition from coal to cleaner sources of energy has been years in the making, drawing billions of dollars of foreign funding toward the effort. The switch has proven more complex and fraught than anticipated, and has raised anxiety in communities around coal mines.<\/p>\n
Residents living near the plants already face a higher number of deaths from air pollution, a study last year by the South African Medical Research Council showed. Fatalities are caused by a range of pollutants, including particulate matter, as well as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.<\/p>\n
South Africa has measures in place to support the prolonged use of coal. At the opening of an expansion at Exxaro Resources Matla mine this month, Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe called for continued investment in projects such as the Leandra carbon-capture research site in Mpumalanga province.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur critical-minerals strategy recognizes coal as a strategic resource because it continues to create employment for thousands of people and sustains the livelihoods of millions of South Africans,\u201d he said at the mine.<\/p>\n
The Matla mine feeds a corresponding Eskom power station and the utility recently signed a contract for coal supply until 2043, almost a decade beyond the most recent planned decommissioning date for the plant, which began generating electricity in 1979. Eskom declined to confirm the planned retirement year, only noting that the fuel \u201ccan also be used in any other power station.\u201d<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/457115155-555x370.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGwede Mantashe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The IRP anticipates 6,000 megawatts of gas online to balance the energy mix in the near term, split evenly between an Eskom project realized in 2029 and independent producers connecting the following year.<\/p>\n
The utility is still at the start of its Richards Bay gas project. It lost a case last year brought by environmental groups over its environmental authorization process and was ordered by the court to redo it. \u201cThe intention is to still continue with gas-to-power project,\u201d Eskom said.<\/p>\n
A government program to procure 3 000 megawatts of gas power from independent producers has experienced multiple delays. The latest timeline indicated by the IPP office that oversees the process would announce bidders in August, reach commercial close a year later, and begin commercial operation 36 months after that.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s dependence on imports in order to secure gas is another risk. While it has an abundant supply of coal, according to Silas Zimu, special adviser to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the wars, we can\u2019t shut down our coal power stations that we hoped to replace with gas,\u201d he told a Cape Town conference this month. \u201cAs you see gas is more expensive \u2014 we must take a responsible decision that we\u2019re going to have to protect our current coal power stations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
#South #Africa #set #run #coal #stations #longer #gas #projects #lag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Africa is poised to delay the retirement of about a fifth of its coal-fired electricity-generation capacity as gas projects earmarked to replace them remain behind schedule, contrasting a decline… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1453,1667,281,6905,758,1141,65,1782,409,6815],"class_list":["post-4523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-africa","tag-coal","tag-gas","tag-lag","tag-longer","tag-projects","tag-run","tag-set","tag-south","tag-stations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}