How not to close plant

MISSTEPS: SHUTTING OF POWER STATION SERVES AS LESSON TO OTHERS

- Zama Luthuli

The cold corridors of the once-mighty Komati coal-fired power plant have been quiet since its shutdown in 2022, in what was trumpeted as a pioneering project in the world's transition to green energy.

Two years later, plans to repurpose the country's oldest coal power plant have amounted to little in a process that offers caution and lessons for countries intending to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and switch to renewables.

Jobs have been lost and construction for wind and solar energy generation has yet to start, with only a few small green projects underway.

“We cannot construct anything. We cannot remove anything from the site,” acting general manager Theven Pillay said at the 63-year-old plant in the coal belt in Mpumalanga.

Poor planning and delays in paperwork to authorise the full decommissioning of the plant are to blame for the standstill, he said.

“We should have done things earlier. So we would consider it is not a success.”

Before it turned off the switches in October 2022, the plant fed 121 megawatts (MW) into the electricity grid.