--- title: Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme | daily.dev description: South Africa's energy minister claims clean coal technology will solve coal's environmental problems, but CSIR documentation reveals a more cautious reality:... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme | daily.dev og:description: South Africa's energy minister claims clean coal technology will solve coal's environmental problems, but CSIR documentation reveals a more cautious reality:... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/y9dnUptFw.png og:image:alt: Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary South Africa's energy minister claims clean coal technology will solve coal's environmental problems, but CSIR documentation reveals a more cautious reality: the HELE-CFB programme's feasibility study is complete, but the 500kW test facility is only partially funded, with a funding gap remaining for construction and demonstration phases. The plant won't feed the grid, is purely for research and data generation, and locally validated results aren't expected before 2029. A separate carbon-storage project (Leandra) is sometimes conflated with this combustion-focused programme but is run by a different partner. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is circulating fluidised bed (CFB) combustion and how does it differ from conventional coal burning? Circulating fluidised bed combustion burns coal in a bed of hot sand mixed with limestone at 800-900°C, much lower than the roughly 1,300°C used when pulverized coal is burned in conventional plants. The lower temperature prevents nitrogen oxide formation and lets limestone absorb sulphur dioxide, capturing over 95% of it without expensive downstream scrubbers. It can also burn a wider range of fuels, including biomass and coal discards. _Anyone weighing energy technology trade-offs can follow developments like this clean coal pilot on daily.dev._ ### What is the timeline and funding status of South Africa's CSIR-Eskom clean coal test plant at Rosherville? The 500kW HELE-CFB test facility at Eskom's Rosherville site is in a multi-phase program: a R7.15-million feasibility study ran July 2025 to June 2026, detailed engineering is funded for August 2026 to July 2028, but construction and demonstration phases face an unresolved funding gap. Test campaigns are expected to run to about mid-2029, with locally validated results not available before then. _Engineers tracking real-world energy infrastructure timelines can follow this clean coal pilot's progress on daily.dev._ ### How does the CSIR's HELE-CFB clean coal programme differ from the Council for Geoscience's Leandra carbon storage project? HELE-CFB, run by CSIR with Eskom, Sanedi and Coaltech, focuses on how coal is burned to reduce emissions at the combustion source using fluidised bed technology. Leandra, run by the Council for Geoscience with Eskom, is a separate pilot testing whether captured carbon dioxide can be stored permanently underground in Mpumalanga, addressing what happens to carbon after capture rather than combustion itself. _Readers comparing competing clean energy approaches can track both technologies' progress on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@20rp** · 0 upvotes > There's no such thing as 'clean coal'. It is a finite resource, one day it will be gone. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [South Africa’s ‘clean coal’ plan is a bet against arithmetic](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-clean-coal-plan-is-a-bet-against-arithmetic-6wvzqzjj2) · TechCentral · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Eskom breaks ground on R1.2-billion Lethabo solar plant](https://daily.dev/posts/eskom-breaks-ground-on-r1-2-billion-lethabo-solar-plant-ofwpwdlpd) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Eskom to decide fate of older coal stations by September](https://daily.dev/posts/eskom-to-decide-fate-of-older-coal-stations-by-september-ozt1qs7bu) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#sustainability](https://daily.dev/tags/sustainability) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T14:03:40.560Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T08:07:49.345Z","description":"South Africa's energy minister claims clean coal technology will solve coal's environmental problems, but CSIR documentation reveals a more cautious reality:...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/522a450d25cdf138ba94fc81cdb01927?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/522a450d25cdf138ba94fc81cdb01927?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"sustainability","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Inside South Africa’s clean coal programme"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"There’s no such thing as ‘clean coal’. It is a finite resource, one day it will be gone.","datePublished":"2026-08-23T18:46:51.986Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/y9dnUptFw#c-cSvyiKUtA","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Arlo Wotherspoon","url":"https://daily.dev/20rp","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/65660355?v=4"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/inside-south-africa-s-clean-coal-programme-y9dnuptfw#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is circulating fluidised bed (CFB) combustion and how does it differ from conventional coal burning?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Circulating fluidised bed combustion burns coal in a bed of hot sand mixed with limestone at 800-900°C, much lower than the roughly 1,300°C used when pulverized coal is burned in conventional plants. The lower temperature prevents nitrogen oxide formation and lets limestone absorb sulphur dioxide, capturing over 95% of it without expensive downstream scrubbers. It can also burn a wider range of fuels, including biomass and coal discards. Anyone weighing energy technology trade-offs can follow developments like this clean coal pilot on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the timeline and funding status of South Africa's CSIR-Eskom clean coal test plant at Rosherville?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The 500kW HELE-CFB test facility at Eskom's Rosherville site is in a multi-phase program: a R7.15-million feasibility study ran July 2025 to June 2026, detailed engineering is funded for August 2026 to July 2028, but construction and demonstration phases face an unresolved funding gap. Test campaigns are expected to run to about mid-2029, with locally validated results not available before then. Engineers tracking real-world energy infrastructure timelines can follow this clean coal pilot's progress on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the CSIR's HELE-CFB clean coal programme differ from the Council for Geoscience's Leandra carbon storage project?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"HELE-CFB, run by CSIR with Eskom, Sanedi and Coaltech, focuses on how coal is burned to reduce emissions at the combustion source using fluidised bed technology. Leandra, run by the Council for Geoscience with Eskom, is a separate pilot testing whether captured carbon dioxide can be stored permanently underground in Mpumalanga, addressing what happens to carbon after capture rather than combustion itself. Readers comparing competing clean energy approaches can track both technologies' progress on daily.dev."}}]} ```