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Matimba Power Station

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Matimba coal-powered station in Lephalale. (Paul Botes/AFP)
COAL FIRED POWER STATIONS

Eskom at risk of stage 13 load-shedding if it doesn’t shape up, says new report

‘Prudent operation and maintenance practices’ could prevent up to six stages of load-shedding, according to the report from the VGBE

  • Mandisa Makgakga
4 min read
16 November 2020. Residents of Steenbokpan Village have to fill reserve containers with water as municipal tap water supply has become limited and erratic. The proposed water pipeline to the area will not improve their situation as it will be supplying the mines and power stations almost exclusively. Photograph: James Puttick.
BARBARA CREECY

‘We struggle for water, but power stations and coal mines don’t’

A proposed pipeline will bring water polluted with Gauteng’s sewage to the Waterberg in Limpopo to boost the coal industry during the climate crisis

  • Sheree Bega
14 min read
Medupi Power Station is a dry-cooled coal-fired power station being built by Eskom near Lephalale in Limpopo province, South Africa. The name chosen for the station, Medupi, is a Sepedi word for “rain that soaks parched lands”.
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

The story of SA’s biggest power plant, and its little town

Before Big Coal, Lephalale was a small town with little water and few jobs. Two power plants have changed it

  • Tristen Taylor
  • Nathalie Bertrams
22 min read