Controversial power generation systems known as “Powerships” have been dealt a huge blow by South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) after the latter denied turkish company, Karpowership SA (Pty) Ltd, environmental authorisation for the development of gas to power via powerships. The refusal for environmental authorisation by the government means the R218 billion deal can not go ahead.
“The competent authority in the department has decided, after due consideration of all relevant information presented as part of the environmental impact assessment process for all three applications in question, to refuse the applications for the environmental authorisations,” said the DFFE in a statement issued on Thursday.
Turkish company, Karpowership, was awarded the majority of contracts by South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) under the country’s first round of the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). RMIPPPP is an emergency procurement initiative devised to plug the energy supply gap in South Africa’s energy system.
South Africa was to procure 2,000 megawatts of emergency power under the RMIPPPP initiative to help Eskom meet the country’s peak electricity demand.
Three sites Karpowership applied Environmental Authorisation for
Karpowership SA (Pty) Ltd had applied for environmental authorisation to develop power systems at the ports of Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha that generate electricity from natural gas to be evacuated through transmission lines to substations linking to the national grid. The powerships were to be assembled off-site and be delivered fully equipped and functional to the different ports.
The powerships deal was also facing a lot of resistance from environmental activists who argued that the systems would not help South Africa meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to significantly cut carbon emissions as required by the Paris Agreement that the country is signatory to.
One of the bidders for the RMIPPP, DNG Energy, also filed a lawsuit alleging that the awarding of contracts to the Turkish company was fraught with corruption and is requesting that the deal be set aside.
The government’s decision to refuse environmental authorisation for powerships can still be appealed.
