Karpowership is upbeat about recent government approval of plans to moor its power-producing ships at South African ports and has had positive engagements with environmental regulators, the Turkish company has told Business Times.
Karpowership said the company welcomed the department of transport’s decision to allow the company to use Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha Bay.
The department’s decision in February became public only in May.
Karpowership also received permission from the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment (DFFE) on May 3 to file a revised environmental impact assessment (EIA), but this is now on hold as environmental lobby groups appeal against the decision.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) is in court seeking to have the agreement between Karpowership and the government made public.
Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said the agreement was not thoroughly accounted for in the current version of the Integrated Resource Plan. He said Outa would continue to fight the agreement in court.
Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa indicated last month at the Enlit Africa Conference that the government was considering adjusting the duration of its procurement of ship-mounted power from 20 years to five.
Energy minister Gwede Mantashe and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan have also come out in support of powerships, an indication that the government is moving swiftly to secure them.
Permission was granted on February 26 and was not publicly disclosed. Fossil fuel companies rely on secrecy and deception to secure their profits
— Chris Vlavianos, Greenpeace Africa spokesperson
Rival bidder DNG Energy, a South African company, lost a court bid to overturn the deal with Karpowership, which it claimd was unlawful and irregular.
Karpowership said there were now no legal challenges against the company.
“On the other hand, the review applications initiated by Outa and Green Connection against our generation licences are continuing. Outa has filed a second but parallel application to compel Nersa [the National Energy Regulator of South Africa] to disclose the confidential record, which we have responded to. The proceedings for this application are ongoing as well.”
Karpowership accuses Outa and Green Connection of “misinformation” on the company’s projects.
“These groups continue to generate attention and imply wrongdoing on our part. These tactics are a distraction and delay the efforts to resolve South Africa’s severe energy crisis.”
Karpowership said the DFFE dismissed allegations made by Green Connection regarding small-scale fishers in Saldanha Bay. The department condoned the late submission of Karpowership’s appeal on a decision affecting the Port of Ngqura and received a positive decision on May 22.
“Interested and affected parties have been notified of this decision. The appeal process will now run its course in terms of the appeal regulations. The Richards Bay draft EIA is currently available for public review in terms of the EIA regulations,” Karpowership said.
Karpowership said its biggest advantage was that its business model enabled it to have assets readily available and as soon as the deal reached financial close, 1.2GW of power would be delivered to the grid within 12 months.
Green Connection did not respond to requests for comment.
DNG Energy CEO Aldworth Mbalati said he was applying his mind to the approval for Karpowership to dock in South African ports.
Greenpeace Africa spokesperson Chris Vlavianos said the decision to grant Karpowership access to South Africa’s ports before they have secured environmental approvals was “ludicrous”.
“Permission was granted on February 26 and was not publicly disclosed. Fossil fuel companies rely on secrecy and deception to secure their profits.
“In South Africa, they are using the electricity crisis and the desperation of South Africans to try to sell a solution that, in the long term, will be bad for the economy, bad for small-scale fishing communities and bad for the climate crisis.”
“Fossil fuels are not sustainable, from their extraction to their transportation to their burning. It is toxic at every step.
“The South African government must use its better judgment and prioritise investments in renewable energy, and implement a just transition in which nobody is left behind,” Vlavianos said.
He said Greenpeace Africa volunteers are running a petition calling on the DFFE and the department of mineral resources & energy (DMRE) to stop Karpowership in South Africa.
Centre for Environmental Rights spokesperson Lerato Balendran said decisions needed to be rational and transparent and called on transport minister Sindisiwe Chikunga to make her reasoning for the directive publicly available.
“The minister of transport’s directive "does not indicate the reasoning or on what basis the directive was invoked to grant Karpowership access to the various ports,” said Balendran.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.