Camden power station

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Camden power station is an operating power station of at least 1600-megawatts (MW) in Camden, Gert Sibande, Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Camden power station	Camden, Gert Sibande, Mpumalanga, South Africa	-26.621477, 30.090074 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8: -26.621477, 30.090074

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1968	2025 (planned)
Unit 2	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1967	2025 (planned)
Unit 3	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1967	2025 (planned)
Unit 4	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1967	2025 (planned)
Unit 5	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1967	2025 (planned)
Unit 6	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1968	2025 (planned)
Unit 7	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1969	2025 (planned)
Unit 8	operating	coal - bituminous	200	subcritical	1969	2025 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner
Unit 1	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 2	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 3	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 4	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 5	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 6	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 7	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]
Unit 8	Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd (Eskom) [100.0%]

Background

Camden Power Station is a coal-fired station owned by the South African publicly-owned electricity utility Eskom. It has an installed capacity of 1,600 MW and comprises eight 200 MW units.

It was commissioned in 1967-1969. Between 1990 and 2006 the station was mothballed, but Eskom decided to recommission the station, starting with unit 6 in July 2005 and completing with unit 1 in July 2008.

In April 2020, Eskom closed the coal plant for up to three months due to the risk of collapse of the coal ash dam. Eskom stated that “the current dam has reached its maximum height and therefore it poses a safety risk to all personnel on site [and] neighbouring communities, and could also be a cause for environmental contravention.” The Camden plant is one that is likely to be closed as new units at Eskom's Medupi and Kusile plants are commissioned. However, as noted below, Eskom's plans to close the Camden plant are currently uncertain.

In October 2021, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment granted Eskom with positive environmental compliance postponement decisions for Camden as it was scheduled to shut down.

It appears that only a few of the plant's units were running at a time until a new ash dam is completed sometime in 2022. Media statements from Eskom highlight the aging infrastructure at the plant. In December 2021, an internal fault of unit 8 caused a transformer explosion. In May 2022, a unit was taken offline for repairs amid major loadshedding power outages of the South African grid.

In February 2023, South Africa's grid was faced with Stage 6 load shedding, massively restricting power supplies "until further notice". Breakdowns occurred at five coal-fired power stations: Arnot power station, Camden power station, Hendrina power station, Lethabo power station and Majuba power station. The breakdowns meant Eskom had 21,243 MW of unplanned outages at its plants, with a further 3,566 MW unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. Conditions were expected to worsen through the end of the month.

According to August 2023 reporting on Eskom data from the past year, Medupi power station, Camden power station, and Duvha power station were the only coal plants out of Eskom's fifteen plants that increased their energy availability compared to the year before. The utility's twelve other coal plants had reduced availability.

Incidents

In mid-November 2022, an internal saboteur was arrested following a purposeful incident that caused at least one unit of the power station to trip. A plug was pulled, allowing oil to drain and damage a bearing. The incident followed a series of similar acts of sabotage at Eskom power stations, including two arrests over stolen coal just one week earlier. In late-November 2022, another arrest was made over coal allegedly stolen by contracted truck drivers. Additional reporting from October 2022 mentioned an act of sabotage taking all eight units offline.

In December 2022, it was reported that the government had deployed members of the South African National Defence Force to Camden, Majuba, Grootvlei, and Tutuka power stations in response to theft and vandalism at the plants.

In October 2023, a subcontractor was arrested for allegedly soliciting bribes from truck drivers delivering coal to the power station.

Tenders & applications

Power utility Eskom has been embroiled in tender irregularities. For example, in August 2021, a court found that its award of a tender to Senta Square to perform control and instrumentation maintenance at the plant between 2019 and 2022 was unlawful.

In October 2021, the National Treasury denied a May 2020 application by Eskom to appoint construction firm WBHO to finalise urgent work at Camden Power Station at a cost of R212 million – despite warnings from the power utility that it could cost as much as R1.2 billion to keep the lights on if the project did not proceed.

Power distribution

In addition to feeding the South African grid, Camden, along with Arnot Power Station, also feeds the Mozal Aluminium smelter in Mozambique via 400kV transmission lines. Mozal consumes around 950MW.

In their 2021 Integrated Report, Eskom stated that rail haulage opportunities have been put on hold for the plant "due to uncertainty around the remaining life of Camden".

Proposed renewal

In April 2016, the Eskom Board said it approved the commencement of a pre-feasibility study for renewal options for four of the oldest power stations: Komati, Camden, Hendrina, and Arnot. The pre-feasibility study would take 18 months to complete, and would include looking at options such as plant life extension.

In March 2017, Eskom said that it would hold meetings with the government and labour to discuss its plans to decommission five power stations over the next five years: Komati Power Station, Hendrina Power Station, Kriel Power Station, Grootvlei Power Station, and Camden Power Station. Eskom said the stations were old and unneeded given the country's plans for new power capacity by independent power producers (IPPs).

Eskom planned to close their operating units down between 2020 and 2026. However, in April 2020, Eskom noted that it was considering delaying closure of the Camden power station and that investigations were underway: “Due to present capacity constraints and in order to allow opportunity for other stations to undertake maintenance it has been decided to continue with the operations of Grootvlei, Camden, Hendrina with station shut-down occurring by 2030." Eskom later set the Camden plant's closure for 2025.

In November 2020, the World Bank Group invited expressions of interest from consultants to assess the implications of retiring the Camden, Hendrina, Grootvlei, and Komati coal plants. The consultant were to look at the technical, environmental, socioeconomic, and financial implications of decommissioning the plants to help inform the WBG’s future engagement with South Africa.

Eskom was looking at options for repurposing the plants with the core aims of “reusing existing power transmission infrastructure, developing new generation capacity, providing ancillary services, and mitigating socioeconomic impact. In addition to conversion to gas or use of the site for renewable generation or battery storage, parts of the infrastructure can be used for ancillary services such as frequency and voltage control and inertia. It launched a request for information in May 2020 following an internal technical review.”

As of October 2023, the South African government was reviewing their 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and expecting to release an updated IRP before the end of the year. During the review, it was reportedly proposed that coal plant decommissioning dates scheduled for before 2030 be pushed back until 2030 and later. A study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) published in October 2023 estimated that postponing the decommissioning until after 2030 would cause 15,300 excess air pollution-related deaths.

Just Energy Transition (JET) plans

As of August 2021, a repowering and repurposing project similar to developments at the Komati Power Station was planned at the Camden plant, now scheduled for closure by 2025.

According to reporting from February 2023, residents from communities close to the Camden power station had concerns about not being sufficiently consulted on the Just Energy Transition (JET) and plans to close the power station. Community advocates were reportedly seeking to get the local government more involved in explaining the JET and facilitating engagement with residents and their concerns.

In August 2023, the government of South Africa announced that they would delay their JET implementation plan by two to three months to spend more time planning how to re-skill workers from coal-dependent communities.

In October 2023, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called on the South Africa government to suspend the Just Energy Transition Partnership. The NUM, which is the largest union representing staff employed by Eskom, said in a statement that they wanted "further consultations on the transition plan because of the threat it poses to as many as 51,000 jobs." In the wake of the NUM's call, the Electricity Minister said no more Eskom coal plants would be closed to be replaced by renewables, a change of course on repowering and repurposing plans reported in August 2021.

In November 2023, the South African government approved the US$8.8 billion Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. The final deal was expected to be revealed at the upcoming COP28 climate conference. South Africa's Minister for Forestry, Fisheries and Environment said that part of the funding would support initiatives in Mpumalanga province, which is "currently heavily dependent on coal."

Coal ash

Eskom reported that the first ash deposition was achieved at the Camden Power Station Ash Facility in October 2021. However, commercial, construction issues, including inclement weather, and Covid-19 constraints were still affecting execution. Eskom reported that the ash dam facility at Camden was completed in 2022 and all units were able to operate.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.