Turkey’s Karpowership deal gets the go-ahead
SOUTH Africa has granted Turkey’s Karpowership access to the three ports of Ngqura, Durban and Saldanha Bay for 20 years, the transport ministry said, as it tries to find solutions to the country’s power crisis.
Karpowership aims to generate power on its floating gas ships and distribute it through South Africa’s electricity grid. The plan received a boost from President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, after he told lawmakers the ships would help ease the prolonged power shortage countrywide.
Karpowership has faced numerous challenges from environmental activists and small-scale fishermen since the South African government granted it the biggest share of a 2 000 megawatt emergency-power contract in 2021, to generate electricity.
On Thursday, the transport ministry said it had granted the application
which was approved by the minister on February 26, in consultation with Transnet National Ports Authority.
Opposition parties have criticised the 20-year contract, valued at billions of rand, saying it was too long for an emergency power supply, pointing out that none of Karpowership’s other contracts in countries such as Ghana and Brazil were for such a lengthy period.
Last week, South Africa’s state power utility, Eskom, warned the country to brace for winter, when almost daily power cuts were expected to increase because of higher demand.
Africa’s most-industrialised economy has seen its gross domestic product suffer as its population copes with supply cuts lasting more than 10 hours a day in the country’s worst power crisis.
A lack of investment and ageing coal-fired power plants that provide the bulk of South Africa’s electricity needs, but are prone to breakdowns, are the main cause of its chronic energy woes.