Eskom Exempted From Sulfur Dioxide Limits at Kusile Coal Power Plant
- Kusile is one of the utility’s two biggest coal-fired plants
- Eskom is world’s biggest emitter of the pollutant, CREA says
Emissions rise from a tower at the Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Kusile coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergSouth Africa’s Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the world’s biggest sulfur dioxide emitter, has won approval to apply through an expedited process to bypass pollution abatement equipment at one of its two biggest coal-fired power plants to allow it to restore generation capacity to the grid quicker.
Eskom, if successful, will be allowed to temporarily bypass the flue-gas desulfurization unit, which cuts sulfur dioxide, or SO2, emissions by as much as 99%, at three units at its Kusile power station, as it conducts repairs at the plant, which has been affected by a chimney collapse. The units could be operating by November and would, if run at full capacity, generate 2,100 megawatts of electricity.