Heritage Cases

Sibanye Gold (Pty) Ltd (Sibanye Gold), a private subsidiary of Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd, was granted an environmental authorisation (EA) to construct a 200MW photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facility to supply renewable electricity to Sibanye Gold’s Driefontein and Kloof mining operations near Westonaria in the Gauteng Province on 16 January 2017 (ref. no. 14/12/16/3/3/2/919). An EA for the associated powerlines was granted on 10 January 2017 (ref no. 14/12/16/3/3/1/1606). Since 2017, the Competent Authority (the authority legally designated to deal with these EAs) has changed from the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental (DFFE) to the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD): (ref. no. Gaut 006/21-22/E0087 (for the solar PV plant) and Gaut 006/21-22/E0088 for the transmission lines. The 2017 EA authorised the installation of PV panels with a height of 2.1m and a control room building of 115m2. Since then, various advances have been made in renewable energy technology. The current more efficient PV panels have an increased height of 4.5m to enable installation of bi-facial PV panels and the appropriate tracking and mounting structures, and the control room building size is proposed to increase to 250m2. The EA needs to be amended to allow for these changes. These amendments are proposed through a “Part 2” (Substantive) amendment process, in which the changes in environmental impacts must be assessed (ref. no. is 006/22-23/E0014). A Basic Assessment (BA) process is also required authorise development on agricultural land (ref. no. is Gaut 002/22-23/E3298). The 2017 EA also requires the Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) for the plant to be updated, provided for public comment, and submitted to the GDARD for approval. This EMPr will include all requirements of the Part 2 Amendment Application process and the BA process. Zutari (Pty) Ltd has been appointed as the Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) to undertake these three processes according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations of 2014. These processes require the draft documents to be made available to Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) for 30 days.