Turkish company Karpowership says it will appeal the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s decision to reject its application to generate electricity at three of the country’s ports.
The company claims that the department had been swayed by a misinformation campaign funded by special interests that want to derail plans to end the energy crisis in the country.
However, the department maintains that it’s not satisfied with the company’s environmental-impact assessment.
In March, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy chose Karpowership as the preferred bidder to supply emergency electricity to the national grid for 20 years.
It was all part of a bid to deal with the country’s electricity shortages and frequent load shedding.
The company was to provide floating gas-fired powerships at three ports: Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha harbours.
It submitted an impact assessment to the department for review.
Spokesperson for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Albi Modise says: “We received the application, it was meant for the company to continue with the generation of gas to energy and as part of the requirements of projects of this magnitude what is needed is an environmental impact assessment and after this application we got concerns from another organisation that raised issues and we investigated.”
But the application was found lacking.
Modise adds: “The application by Karpowership didn’t meet the requirements that we expected from a project of this magnitude. Firstly, in their engagement there was not enough done to ensure extensive public participation. We have a responsibility to ensure that when we give authorisation, everything needs to be done in a certain way and the right way.”
