Johannesburg - An energy plan to ease load shedding is now under renewed pressure after officials refused to award environmental permits to Karpowership SA (KPS SA).
This is despite the project’s promise to generate enough electricity to power 800 000 homes and remove one full stage of load shedding.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) threw out the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) after complaints by lobbying group Green Connection.
A series of attempts to secure new electricity for South Africa have failed in recent years and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) presented a plan to address South Africa’s energy needs.
Its plan had Powerships in Richards Bay, Coega and Saldanha as a central component, but the decision by the DFFE to refuse permits threatens to derail the vision.
A DFFE notice claims the Powerships application could not be properly evaluated because of the lack of a proper underwater noise study, something the company disputes.
The Star’s evaluation of the EIA shows that Karpowership SA did provide an underwater noise study carried out on an identical operating Powership in Ghana that is moored in a fishing port.
The Star