Coal Electricity Generation In South Africa

By 2010 90 of south africa s electricity was generated from coal.

Coal electricity generation in south africa.

The remainder of south africa s coal production feeds the various local industries with 53 used for electricity generation. It also has 6gw of new coal fired plants under construction and a further 3gw in the. South africa s reliance on coal means around 80 its emissions come from energy supply according to the npc. On july 21 2020 the south african ngo groundwork secured a court victory shutting down the proposed 600 mw khanyisa coal fired power plant in the mpumalanga province.

In most modern power stations in south africa coal is burned to heat water and convert it into steam. The energy centre of the csir has moved to provide updated and consistent information on the cost of new power from wind solar pv baseload coal ipp baseload eskom coal and nuclear power generation technologies in south africa. South africa is home to 3 5 of global coal resources. Many of the country s coal fired power station are located in close proximity to a coal mine and are supplied with fuel directly from the mine.

Produces 3 3 of total global annual production. Coal mining and coal power generation in south africa south africas coal reserves are estimated at around 30 billion tonnes. Around 77 of south africa s energy needs are directly derived from coal and 81 of all coal consumed domestically goes towards electricity production. The steam is directed onto the blades of a turbine to make it rotate.

South africa s power generation is currently dominated by coal which accounts for more than 80 of output and makes the country one of the top 20 emitters of carbon dioxide worldwide. As of july 2018 south africa has 42gw of operating coal plants the seventh largest fleet in the world according to the global coal plant tracker. Coal power plants were preferentially erected adjacent to vast coal deposits. Historically this has given south africa access to cheap electricity but it is also one of the leading reasons that the country is in the top 20 list of carbon dioxide emitting countries.

This ranks south africa as 6th in the list of coal exporting nations. The key role played by our coal reserves in the economy is illustrated by the fact that eskom is the 7th largest electricity generator in the world and sasol the largest coal to chemicals producer. Electricity generation accounts for 43 of all coal consumed in south africa 1997 estimate. As a result the coal rich plateau also became.

This in turn rotates the magnetic rotor inside the coil to generate electricity.