Newcastle, KwaZulu Natal

Nominal Capacity

18 MW

Fuel/Type

Gas CCGT

Equity Interest

100%

IPSA’s combined heat and power (“CHP”) in Newcastle is South Africa's first privately financed independent power plant, which is also South Africa's first independent gas-fired power station.

The Newcastle Cogeneration power plant was constructed within fourteen months. It produces both steam and electricity with a nominal power capacity of 18 MW and the capability to deliver just under 1 million tonnes of steam per annum. It operates as a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, again the first in South Africa, using two Siemens Tornado gas turbines with two Aalborg steam boilers capturing the waste heat and turning the super-heated steam into additional electricity from a steam turbine. The plant provides steam and electricity to three industrial companies on site.

The plant operating as a CCGT has a thermal efficiency of nearly 56 per cent., which means that it produces around 40 per cent. less CO2 than a conventional coal-fired plant for every kilowatt hour of electricity it generates. This is one of the lowest emissions of CO2 of any thermal power plant in South Africa. For this reason the Newcastle plant may be eligible for carbon credits under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.