Abandoned coal mines could power South Africa's solar future

Researchers argue that 300GW of solar energy could be produced at Mpumalanga's old mines and those closing in the next decade

- Sheree Bega

A bright new future is being touted for Mpumalanga’s degraded and scarred coal mining landscape in the form of solar farms.

Researchers from the Global Energy Monitor (GEM), an NGO based in the United States, have identified 18 potential conversion sites, covering about 250km² of coal mines in Mpumalanga, that will be available for solar build-out.

These sites in the country’s largest coal-producing province, either on closed mines or those expected to close in this decade, are within 5km of the electricity grid.

They could produce nearly 13 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy — twice as much as South Africa’s current capacity — offering a way to accelerate the country’s clean energy goals while repurposing land scarred by the extraction of coal, said GEM.

Worldwide, coal mines that have been abandoned or will close by the end of this decade hold enough potential photovoltaic (PV) solar capacity to power a country the size of Germany for a year.

“We identified 18 South African coal mines for our report, noting that most of those in Mpumalanga were close to a grid connection, making them easier to get online as solar farms,” said Ryan Driskell Tate, an associate director at GEM.

But that’s just the “speartip of possibility”, he said, noting that the country has a far bigger potential for coal mine to solar repurposing.

“South Africa has about 400 old coal mines. Many of those are now considered ‘derelict and ownerless’, and responsibility for rehabilitation falls to the state. The progress has been slow, averaging only a few sites per year, and mostly with non-coal mines.”