Karpowership will continue its efforts to win environmental approval for the installation of two ship-mounted power plants in ports in South Africa.
Five environmental organisations attempted to stop the firm from requesting permission to erect a 450 megawatt gas-fired facility at the port of Richards Bay on the northeast coast, but South African Environment Minister Barbara Creecy rejected their requests.
In a different decision, she overturned her department’s earlier decision to reject authorization for a 320-megawatt operation and enabled Karpowership to pursue environmental approval at Saldanha on the west coast.
The decisions are the most recent chapter in a story that has seen the Turkish company’s initiatives continually put off by legal issues and environmental obstacles. The government’s efforts to increase electricity generation amid ongoing blackouts that are stunting economic growth and depressing voter turnout in advance of next year’s elections will also benefit from it.
Since winning nearly 60% of a state tender in March 2021 for 2,000 megawatts of emergency electricity to address the crisis, Karpowership has been working on three projects. A disagreement over the positioning of the power ship with the national port operator would cause a delay in the 450 megawatt project at the Port of Ngqura.
According to a corporate email, the approvals “are a significant boost towards the finalisation of Karpowership’s” initiatives.
The requirement to locate a new spot in the harbour for the ship to moor could cause a delay at Ngqura that could last anywhere between 12 and 18 months, it warned.
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