Green Connection welcomes Karpowership deal ending, calls for further details
Nonprofit organisation The Green Connection has welcomed Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa’s announcement this week that the Karpowership deal is officially “dead in the water”.
Turkish energy company Karpowership had been seeking to implement three ship-based power projects in South Africa after being named one of the preferred bidders in the government’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
“We have long argued that signing the proposed 20-year ‘emergency’ contract would have resulted in even higher electricity prices than those currently proposed by Eskom. Imagine the impact, especially since South Africans have already endured many above-inflation price hikes over the past decade.
“And we cannot ignore the lessons from other African countries that bought into Karpowerships but had their electricity cut because they couldn’t afford to pay,” Green Connection strategic lead Liziwe McDaid comments.
She adds that the reservations about these projects went beyond the financial costs.
“We were also deeply concerned about the environmental risks these floating kettles pose to marine ecosystems and the potential ripple effect on the livelihoods of small-scale fishers who rely on a healthy ocean.”
McDaid says that, despite the deal being cancelled, serious questions still remain.
“Why, if the Karpowership deal is truly off the table, is the government still opposing The Green Connection and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s court cases? Why are scarce State resources still being wasted on this? And why did the new [Forestry, Fisheries and the] Environment [Minister] approve the Richards Bay Karpowership environmental-impact assessment when the project isn’t moving forward?” McDaid queries.
The Green Connection has called on government to take take accountability and publicly address these questions, in the interest of transparency.
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