South Africa grants Turkey’s Karpowership deal to ease the load shedding crisis

The National Department of Transport announced on Thursday that South Africa has granted Turkey’s Karpowership access to the three ports of Ngqura, Durban and Saldanha Bay for 20 years.

The statement said the Minister approved the application on 26 February 2023, in consultation with and supported by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA).

The Turkish-owned company seeks to supply 1 220 megawatts (MW) of electricity to South Africa.

The company secured the deal after the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s December 2019 call for 2 000MW of emergency power.

However, according to reports, in March, its environmental application to moor a ship-mounted power plant at the port of Saldanha Bay was suspended after allegations that the views of small-scale fisheries were misrepresented.

The approval, according to the department, is in line with the National Ports Act No. 12 of 2005, which gives powers to the Minister to approve applications of this nature.

“The Minister considered the application in terms of National Ports Act Section 79 (1) (a) and (b) to safeguard the national security of the country and to discharge the international obligations of the Republic.”

The statement read: “It is for this reason that the Minister gave the TNPA latitude to make necessary decisions in implementing this directive, such as considering the safety measures and operationality of this directive.”

In addition, as a result, there are several conditions attached to the approval.

These include the TNPA reserves the right to include all the necessary commercial and safety requirements or agreements that are considered necessary during the period of this directive.

“The directive is also subject to all other government approvals such as Environmental approvals from competent government departments and/or authorities,” it added.

 SAnews.gov.za