Locked into coal: South Africa’s broken transition

Decommissioning of Duvha, one of 14 coal-fired power stations still anchoring the national grid, has been delayed to at least 2035. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee An unrehabilitated coal mine near the Duvha Power Station. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee

South Africa’s latest coal-fired power station, Kusile, took decades to finish building, cost hundreds of billions of rand and became one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the country’s energy history.

Now finally fully operational...