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Eskom head office at Megawatt Park in Johannesburg.
Gallo Images/Luba Lesolle
- The Netherlands intends to back just transition initiatives at Eskom’s Grootvlei power station.
- The power station is to be repurposed with climate-smart agriculture projects, as it approaches the end of its design life.
- Eskom is also implementing just transition initiatives at its Komati power station.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
The Netherlands intends to back just transition initiatives at Eskom’s Grootvlei power station, as it approaches the end of its design life.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Eskom said that the two parties signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on Tuesday. The just transition initiatives will support “job creation and community upliftment,” Eskom said.
Grootvlei, in Mpumalanga, will be transitioning from a coal-fired power station to a renewable energy hub. The Netherlands will help support these efforts.
The two parties collaborated previously on a pre-feasibility study for “climate-smart, labour-intensive, agriculture or horticultural development” at the power station. Climate-smart agriculture entails using technology that minimises the effects of climate change on farming. Eskom said this approach would also help create jobs.
“The new LOI provides an integrated and sustainable approach for repurposing the Grootvlei power station as the site transitions. This marks a milestone in South Africa’s transition away from coal reliance and a key moment in Eskom’s partnership with the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” Eskom said.
The LOI supports Eskom’s goals to develop and implement a climate-smart agriculture demonstration facility, agricultural activity, and the need to train community members at the station.
According to Eskom:
Through this LOI, Eskom and the Netherlands seek to develop further opportunities to create jobs by training and upskilling people from the local communities. The LOI also puts forward the intention to explore the potential of creating a market in the region for profitable, productive, sustainable, and climate-smart farming.
A climate-smart horticulture demonstration site will also be developed – which will create further job opportunities, said Eskom.
“… Relevant knowledge and skills between South Africa and the Netherlands will be transferred, and local enterprises’ business cases will be improved while promoting the creation of new enterprises,” the statement read.
READ | Eskom hits back after Mantashe claims: No ‘permanent’ jobs lost in Komati decommissioning
Eskom has also started implementing just transition initiatives at Komati, also in Mpumalanga. The power station’s last 100 MW unit was shut down in October last year. According to Eskom, there were no permanent job losses. Permanent employees who left were reskilled, and others were redeployed to other power stations.
At the time the last unit was decommissioned, there were 189 permanent employees and 364 contractors. There are now 150 permanent employees and 240 maintenance and service contractors, Eskom told News24.
Eskom intends to repower Komati with 150 MW solar, 70 MW wind and 150 MW battery storage.
A 500kW agri-voltaics plant is under construction at the site. Eskom is also testing an aquaponics plant on site.
The power utility is establishing a training facility at Komati, in partnership with Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre.
Speaking at a separate event with Danish officials on Wednesday, Eskom’s general manager for clean energy, Tom Skinner stressed the importance of ensuring a just transition at coal-fired power plants. About 22 GW of coal-fired power stations will be decommissioned before 2032. This will have a massive impact on Mpumalanga’s coal-dominated economy and local communities.
“At one of our stations, there are 700 people working there at the station and probably another 1 400 people working indirectly. And there are massive amounts of communities and towns whose economies are reliant on those power stations,” said Skinner.
He said that the repurposing of power stations, like Komati, is very important. He noted that at Komati, as soon as units were decommissioned, activity in the area died down – which shows that the power utility cannot afford to delay just transition planning.
“Very soon, before 2045, we have three other power stations that will be closing down,” said Skinner. These are Camden, Hendrina and Grootvlei.
While there are considerations to keep running these plants slightly longer in order to meet energy demand as the country battles an energy crisis, Skinner said just transition plans need to begin.
“We do not want the station to close down in three years and then only start developing capacity. It needs to be seamless. It may be a blessing in disguise if we continue with those stations slightly longer… It gives us an opportunity to more seamlessly manage the transition in those areas,” Skinner added.
The LOI with the Netherlands follows another agreement by the country to back a newly launched green hydrogen fund in South Africa with $50 million in seed funding.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are in South Africa this week to strengthen their cooperation on the just energy transition. Bloomberg previously reported that both governments are looking to join the Just Energy Transition Partnership.
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