Legal fight threatens return of load-shedding in South Africa

Non-profit organisations GroundWork Trust and Earthlife Africa are taking government to court over alleged leeway provided to Eskom regarding its air pollution commitments. If successful, it could lead to the return of load-shedding in South Africa.

According to GroundWork Trust director Bobby Peek, South Africa could save $41.7 billion (R790 billion) by complying with the air pollution standard negotiated in 2004 and 2010.

“We’ll be able to save South Africa $41.7 billion over the life of the power stations because of avoiding debts due to the air pollution,” Peek told 702.

“Eskom says if we had to follow the standard, there’s going to be load-shedding and an economic cost to society, but we don’t have the evidence for that. We haven’t seen the figures.”

“Research shows that if they’re in compliance, we’ll save our economy, and we’ll save people’s health,” he added.

GroundWork Trust and Earthlife Africa have approached the Pretoria High Court to review and set aside decisions made by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment and the National Air Quality Officer.

They had granted Eskom permission to suspend or postpone compliance with the minimum emissions standards (MES) until 2030 at eight coal-fired power stations.

These include the Camden, Hendrina, Arnot, Grootvlei, and Kriel power stations, which were intended to be retired between 2023 and 2027.

The foundation of the case to review and set aside decisions made by the Minister and the air quality officer is that Eskom hasn’t provided clear decommissioning schedules, which are required by law.

Without these schedules, GroundWork and Earthlife Africa argue that the Minister and air quality officer can’t evaluate whether sufficient precautions have been taken and whether all risks have been assessed.

“The problem is that Eskom appears to be doing this without thorough plans,” said Peek.

“Goalposts keep moving, and in addition to the ongoing health impacts, vulnerable workers are not having their futures adequately considered by decision-makers.”

Eskom has warned of the potential consequences of the air pollution limits on several occasions in the past.

It has said that shutting down the power stations required to meet the standards would result in continuous and intense load-shedding.

In September 2022, former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter warned that South Africa would have to aggressively invest in renewable energy and relax air quality standards or risk load-shedding stages as high as 15.

“Stage 15 load-shedding. I don’t want to know what that looks like,” he said, adding that it would cost 100,000 jobs.

He explained that the power utility’s existing power stations don’t meet MES, leaving Eskom with a difficult choice:

Spend around R300 billion to retrofit coal-fired units with equipment like flue-gas desulphurisation technology or shut them down.

However, De Ruyter noted that the projected cost was too great for Eskom to take on, and if it could, it would result in hefty electricity tariff increases.

In December 2021, Deidre Herbst, the environmental manager in Eskom’s generation division, warned that failing to secure exemptions from MES would force the power utility to charge 30% more for electricity.

She added that it would potentially have to implement continuous Stage 8 load-shedding as well.

Herbst said installing flue-gas desulphurisation technology to reduce harmful emissions would cost R30 billion per power station.

“The full compliance that the authorities are requesting from Eskom will cost R300 billion, and that would add at least another 10% additional on the tariff,” added Herbst.

She said this would be in addition to the 20% tariff hike Eskom had already requested from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa for the 2022/23 financial year.