BuaNews (Tshwane)
Gabi Khumalo
7 February 2008
Pretoria — Appeals lodged by environmental groups and citizens against building a peaking power plant in KwaZulu-Natal have been dismissed by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
These were lodged after the department's Director-General Pamela Yako on 14 September 2007, authorised the Department of Minerals and Energy to proceed with preparations for building a peaking power plant at the Avon site in Shakaskraal.
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said he was satisfied by the Director-General's decision in the original record of decision. He said the decision made was correct, as she adequately considered the major anticipated environmental impact of the proposed development before making the decision. Mr van Schalkwyk emphasised that there was a dire need for developing the peaking power plants to ensure a stable supply of electricity to the country as a whole.
The department explained that a peaking power plant was generally run only during periods of peak demand for electricity. It may also be activated when other power plants were under maintenance or in exceptional circumstances when the security of the grid supply was threatened.
Some of the reasons for the appeal were that:
* as an industrial undertaking which will be privately operated for profit, the plant should be located within an officially designated industrial area;
* the provisions for the control of emissions are insufficient. Stack emissions should be continuously monitored;
* the plant should have been located closer to the fuel source or, alternatively, within close proximity to a rail link to allow fuel delivery by means of rail transport. This will alleviate the impact of heavy duty traffic on affected residential areas;
* an increase in criminal activities especially during the construction phase was anticipated and
* the large quantity of highly combustible fuel stored on the site will represent a severe hazard in an area where sugar cane is regularly burned under controlled conditions.
Regarding the concerns on the location of the plant, the minister said it was a planning decision which would have to be taken in terms of planning legislation based on physical planning considerations. "This falls outside the purview of environmental impact legislation and is beyond my decision making competence, in my view, the proposed location is fully acceptable in terms of the relevant environmental considerations," he said.
The department explained that generators of a peaking power plant are driven by Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) which is fuelled by either diesel or kerosene and at full load, it is expected to produce 900 MW of electricity. At this production rate, it is anticipated to consume approximately 225 tons of fuel per hour, a plant of this nature is expected to operate on average only 10 percent of the time during its life span.
The department said it is imperative that peaking power plants be situated at as low an altitude as possible to allow the plants to operate at maximum efficiency, the department said. The close proximity to existing Eskom infrastructure and to sources of fuel are also important considerations in the location of these plants. Thus, the plant will be located approximately 65km north of Durban and about 8km inland from the coastline, adjacent to Eskom's existing Avon substation.
"The peaking power plant will be operated by an independent power producer who will be decided upon by means of competitive bidding processes," the department said.
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