South Africa permission for ACWA plant expires, lawyers say

ACWA Power has been informed by the South African government that its environmental authorisation to build a 306 MW coal-fired power plant in the country has expired, according to lawyers opposing the project. The authorisation for the Khanyisa coal-fired plant lapsed on October 31, 2018, and the Saudi electricity company has opposed the ruling in South Africa’s High Court, the Cape Town-based Centre for Environmental Rights, a legal organisation, said in a statement Tuesday. The ruling that the authorization had lapsed was made “recently.”