Cape Town - Karpowership SA continues to be hailed as a solution in alleviating the country’s worsening energy crisis, but the company is yet to receive environmental permits for all three of its proposed gas-to-power projects after being stalled for three years by fierce opposition, legal action, missed deadlines, and more.
The company planned to install gas-to-power projects at ports of Saldanha, Richards Bay and Ngqura, but all three project applications (totalling 1 220MW of emergency electricity) suffered major setbacks in May.
However, the Turkish company is refusing to back down after yet another recent setback. Documents from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment show that the company is appealing against a decision not to grant it an extension to apply for an environmental permit at the Saldanha port.
According to the new documents, the extension request was rejected on May 23 and an appeal against this decision was made a day later by Karpowership SA.
The reason for the extension was for Karpowership to undertake a minor amendment to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) in its application to achieve compliance. This included the submission of the generic environmental management programme (EMP) for the substation and transmission infrastructure to “correct a minor administrative oversight”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe have all reiterated that this is a viable option to assist the country out of load shedding by providing emergency power.
Civil society organisations – including the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), groundWork, The Green Connection, Natural Justice, and the Centre for Environmental Rights – continue to oppose the Karpowership projects.
Yegeshni Moodley from groundWork said: “The stubborn refusal of Karpowership and its service providers to honour the EIA process, as given in South African law, is representative of its conduct in other countries.
“Locking Ghana, Lebanon, and other states into long-term energy contracts, which abuses the power of ordinary citizens to democratically choose their energy sources, being considerate of price, availability, and environmental protection, South Africans need to stand up and question why these powerships are being touted above all other options when it will not even address our energy crisis? The who, why and how needs to be publicly aired.
“Having a R200 billion investment sail away in 20 years is not a legacy for the youth of South Africa.”
kristin.engel@inl.co.za