South Africa: Komati Power Station Repurposing Forges Ahead

The Komati Power Station’s transition from a coal fired station to a repurposed, multifaceted hub is well underway, with Eskom issuing a tender notice for a service provider to drive the socio-economic development plan for the transition from fossil to renewable energy.

Komati was officially taken off the grid in October last year after serving the population since 1961. No Eskom employees lost their jobs as a result of the closure.

“Part of the plan includes management and implementation of mitigation measures for the socio-economic impacts resulting from the shutdown of the fossil-fired generating units at Eskom’s Komati Power Station. The last of the fossil-fired units at Komati reached its end of operational life in October 2022 and was shut down.

“The project is for a duration of approximately 60 months. Interested service providers are urged to review the request for expression of interest (EOI) document on the Eskom Tender Bulletin and respond accordingly,” Eskom said.

The Komati site is expected to be powered by:

150MW of solar power.

70MW of wind power.

150MW of battery storage power.

“The repowering and repurposing of the power station will be funded through a concessional loan facility from the World Bank. The loan facility broadly covers the decommissioning, repurposing and repowering of the station and critical elements of the Just Energy Transition to provide a second life to the power station.

“This includes the establishment of an agrivoltaics test facility, a containerised microgrid assembly and manufacturing facility, a training centre for employees and community members, and importantly, a community upliftment programme that this tender seeks to address,” Eskom said.