According to the background information document, some of the environmental risks are that the operation of the power plant will, to a greater or lesser extent entail the management, filtration and emission of exhaust gases coming from the combustion of fuel, be it natural gas, oil, diesel or other kinds of fuels, into the atmosphere. Other kinds of effluents, such as waste water, may also be generated. It is reliably understood that the proposed activity may trigger category 1.2 and/or 1.4 of the Section 21 Listed Activities in terms of the Air Quality Act.
However, the municipal spokesperson, Mr Harry Hill, when asked about an Environmental Impact Assessment process being conducted for the Chanrix Thermal Power Plant, said the developers have not as yet submitted an application to the Mossel Bay Municipality.
"The municipality, therefore, cannot comment, except to say that such a plant would require environmental approval before it can proceed," Mr Hill added.
Despite efforts to establish whether the Eden District Municipality was informed of the intention to develop the power plant as this is the local authority mandated to manage the Atmospheric Emission licensing, no feedback was received at the time of going to press on written questions e-mailed to the spokesperson.
According to an environmental impact assessment notice, Chanrix (Pty) Ltd intends to establish an energy generation facility (power plant) with associated infrastructure and structures on sections of the Farm Rietvalley 225, located inside the Mossel Bay urban edge, south of PetroSA, north of the N2 and west of the R327, in an area 'earmarked for industrial purposes'.
The developers say the purpose of the proposed power plant is to add new capacity for the generation of electrical energy to the national electricity supply.
The background Information Document (BID) alleges the demand for electricity in South Africa has been growing at an alarming rate. It states: "The urgent need to procure power in the short-to-medium term has been qualified as a priority by the government... in the Integrated Resource Plan. Therefore, the development of combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) (natural gas) power plants and open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) (diesel) power plants will represent a key feature in the fulfilment of the proposed goals of new generation capacities for energy security."
It is envisaged that the energy generation facility will be a thermal power plant with a maximum generating capacity up to 1200MW. It's intended to be a CCGT power plant, to be fuelled with natural gas, imported by a gas import facility such as the proposed PetroSA Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and/or new gas pipelines.
"Should natural gas not yet be available at the time of the commissioning of the Chanrix Thermal Power Plant, the proposed facility may be fuelled with diesel. In such an event, the power plant will operate as OCGT until natural gas will be available."
The Chanrix Thermal Power Plant will deliver energy to the existing Eskom Proteus substation via one or more new 275kV or 400kV power lines over approximately 15km.
Two alternative corridors for the new high-voltage power lines are preliminarily proposed to run parallel to existing Eskom high-voltage power lines.
The construction and operation of the power plant may require the construction of facilities and or infrastructure for the refining, extraction or processing and storage and or handling of dangerous materials, such as diesel, oil, natural gas or other kinds of fuel, by means of containers with a combined capacity of more than 500 cubic meters.
The project may envisage the building of dams with a combined capacity of 50 000 cubic meters or more, covering an area bigger than five hectares and/or having walls higher than five meters, measured from the outside toe of the wall to the highest part of the wall.
Physical alteration of an area bigger than five hectares, and smaller than 20 hectares will physically be altered with an access road wider than eight meters, with a reserve wider than 13.5 meters, and the clearance of indigenous vegetation, where the total area to be cleared may be bigger than five hectares.
The required environmental impact assessment is being done by Ages (Pty) Ltd, to determine whether the proposed activity will result in any significant environmental impacts.
The site for the proposed new power generating plant is indicated in blue.
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