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South Africa is negotiating switching the Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal-fired IPPs to clean coal technology. The planned change comes as environmental groups have been piling pressure on the government over the projects’ impact.
Acwa Power (50%) with General Electric (35%) and Thebe Investments (15%) have already agreed to switch the 306MW Khanyisa project to clean coal technology, according to a source. Acwa has form in clean coal after closing on the 2,400MW Hassyan IPP in Dubai in 2016.
Marubeni, developing the 557.3MW Thabametsi project, is still discussing the potential change, sources said.
It is unclear how exactly the switch would affect the procurement. It’s possible that the use of clean coal technology could push EPC costs up, meaning the sponsors may want to renegotiate the tariffs.
Acwa’s consortium was awarded Khanyisa after offering a levelised cost of energy of R0.079706 per kWh ($0.006/kWh). Marubeni’s consortium offered R0.80955/kWh for Thabametsi. Both tariffs are set to rise in line with the consumer price index after construction...