To mark the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report ‘Coal to Nuclear: Supporting a Clean Energy Transition’, developed for South Africa’s 2025 G20 Presidency, the IAEA hosted a webinar on transforming former coal plant sites into clean energy hubs powered by nuclear technology.
The webinar is now available for you to watch online:
Repower Initiative’s founder Staffan Qvist was a panellist – his section starts at 31:45
Repower have published extensive research, and scored every single coal power plant unit in the whole world for their suitability to transition to various clean energy technologies.
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Staffan invited utilities, coal power plant owners and research institutions to reach out to us to work on national and regional strategies, and on optimising individual coal power plant transition strategies. 10,000 coal units have been built, and the majority are around 10 years old – there is therefore an enormous opportunity to reuse this infrastructure, while replacing as much of the process and district heating the plant provided as possible, while also generating power cleanly.
Nellan Govender, Chief Engineer: Nuclear Engineering at Eskom, South Africa gave an introduction to the macro-economic benefits of Coal to Nuclear Transitions in South Africa.
Coal is transported by truck to Eskom plants, with coal dust and diesel particulate emissions. As nuclear fuel is less dense, there is a potential of less damage to the roads with associated maintenance and reconstruction costs.
South Africa has an established mining capacity and supply chain for uranium. Nuclear plant fuel costs are a small and stable fraction of its operating budget, which could translate to predictable, low-cost electricity for consumers over the 60-80 year plant life.
C2N offers grid stability, and high-wage, skilled workforce opportunities to local workers. Nellan addressed financing and project execution challenges, and lessons learned from the Komati Just Energy Transition Project.
Leonardo Paredes Pires, Professor and Technical Consultant of the Brazilian Association for the Development of Nuclear Activities (ABDAN), Brazil discussed the future Brazilian potential for C2N.
Brazil saw a huge blackout in 2023 – it needs inertia and grid stability. The coal economy in South Brazil directly and indirectly impacts hundreds of thousands. C2N could increase jobs and revenue income for localities and communities, and also massively reduce emissions.
Brazil is in the first phases of plans to identify suitable coal sites for conversion, analysing on factors including proximity to population and gas infrastructure. Pampa Sul Power Station currently comes top of their rankings, which matches exactly with our analysis in RepowerScore (type in the name in the ‘Power Plant search’ box to learn more).
Tanmay Bishnoi, CEng, CEIM Bishnoi, Director, Decarbonisation and ESG Consulting, KPMG in Singapore, and Project Fellow – Coal to Clean Initiative, Centre for Energy and Materials at World Economic Forum
The Coal to Clean Initiative have developed financial tools to help coal-fired power plant asset owners, financiers and policy makers explore early retirement and repurposing options. Their mission is to accelerate the early retirement and repurposing of coal-fired power plants in emerging economies by scaling innovative financing and technological solutions.
Overall, a fascinating and timely discussion, and thank you to Maria Papadopoulou and Viet Phuong Nguyen for moderating and hosting us.
We invite you to watch the recording!
IAEA report: ‘Coal to Nuclear: Supporting a Clean Energy Transition’