Turkish multinational Karpowership SA yesterday moved one step closer to having one of its three controversial gas-to-power projects realised after the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) issued an interim decision on the company's appeal challenging its decision to reject the Environmental Authorisation (EA) for Port of Ngqura located at the Coega Special Economic Zone in the Eastern Cape.
The interim decision issued by the DFFE on August 28 primarily seeks clarity on the strategic engagements Karpowership held with the Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA) for a suitable alternative location for the powerships to be moored at the Port of Ngqura.
This comes after the DFFE in March issued a record of refusal on one of Karpowership SA's applications for EA for the proposed projects for the Ports of Ngqura and Saldanha Bay.
The company earlier this year asked for extension to appeal against the ruling after the DFFE found that the company had failed to reach consensus on the proposal with the TNPA.
Karpowership SA yesterday welcomed the DFFE’s interim decision, saying that it remained fully committed to playing its part in progressing the commercial agreements – together with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and Independent Power Producers' (IPP) office – to provide a stable electricity supply.
It said this was a positive step towards the finalisation of its Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMI4P) projects.
“Karpowership SA has held extensive engagements with TNPA following its notification that the initial Powership location was unavailable due to TNPA’s proposed port expansion and liquid bulk terminal plans,” it said in a statement.
“The two parties have been working consistently and diligently together to reach an alternative solution for the mooring of the vessels.”
Karpowership SA had proposed to locate the three powership projects at the ports of Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha to generate electricity from natural gas to be evacuated through transmission lines to substations linking to the national grid.
This is part of the solutions the country is considering to mitigate the effects of crippling electricity shortages.
Going forward, Karpowership SA said that it would continue to work together with the TNPA, as per the DFFE’s directive, to enable the DFFE to make a final, concluding decision on its appeal and finalise the Enviromental Impact Assessment process, to ensure that these projects go ahead.
Karpowership SA, one the preferred bidders of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which launched in 2020, proposes a controversial 20-year long gas-to-power via Powership Project at the Port of Ngqura, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, at a potential cost of R200 billion.
The proposed gas-to-power Powership Project at the Port of Ngqura has been formulated in response to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for technology agnostic
New Generation Capacity under the 2 000MW RMI4P issued by the DMRE to alleviate the immediate and future capacity deficit as well as the limited, unreliable and poorly diversified provision of current power generating technology with its inherent adverse environmental and economic impacts.
Gas, as per the DMRE, has been identified as one of the most affordable and reliable forms of power.
In June, Meridian Economics published its Resolving the Power Crisis analysis of SA’s energy sector which suggested that load shedding may be 10 times worse by 2026 and that an additional 5 000MW of renewable energy capacity could have essentially solved load shedding in 2021 at a cost saving to Eskom.
Environmentalists have been very critical kf the government's decision to contract Karpowership to generate electricity from the ships socks in the sea, with Greenpeace Africa climate and energy campaigner Thandile Chinyavanhu blaming DMRE Minister Gwede Mantashe for delaying renewal energy contracts.
“The minister notoriously stalled bid window 5 of the Independent Renewable Energy Power Producer Programme and continues to peddle expensive vanity projects such as Karpowership, which exacerbate the climate crisis and offer little to no reprieve for the unemployed youth, when the evidence indicates that renewables are the solution to our crisis,” Chinyavanhu said.
“The 2019 Integrated Resource plan must make more provisions for renewable energy to stabilise our system and prevent further collapse of our electricity system
“The minister notoriously stalled bid window 5 of the Independent Renewable Energy Power Producer Programme and continues to peddle expensive vanity projects such as Karpowership, which exacerbate the climate crisis and offer little to no reprieve for the unemployed youth, when the evidence indicates that renewables are the solution to our crisis,” Chinyavanhu said.
“The 2019 Integrated Resource plan must make more provisions for renewable energy to stabilise our system and prevent further collapse of our electricity system.”
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