Cape Town - Karpowership SA has hit more major snags in its plans to provide 2 000MW of emergency power to the country as the environmental authorisation for its three proposed gas-to-power projects have now either been refused, withdrawn or suspended by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE).
After Karpowership SA was named one of the preferred bidders in the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s emergency power programme for South Africa to procure 2 000MW of power on an urgent basis, the Turkish company has faced litigation and major opposition, which has delayed its gas-to-power projects in Saldanha Bay, Richards Bay and Ngqura.
In 2021, the Turkish company was denied environmental authorisation (and subsequent appeals) by the DFFE as a result of gaps in its public consultation processes, but the company was granted a second chance to apply for environmental authorisation.
Now, despite another attempt, the department has refused environmental authorisation for Karpowership SA’s Ngqura project, its environmental assessment practitioner withdrew Karpowership SA’s Richard’s Bay application, and the department has suspended its Saldanha Bay application.
Karpowership SA’s environmental authorisation for its Saldanha Bay application was suspended after a complaint from eco-justice organisation The Green Connection, which raised concerns of non-compliance related to the public consultation process.
The DFFE is now investigating the allegations that Karpowership SA’s environmental assessment practitioner, Triplo4 Sustainable Solutions, had attempted to misrepresent the views of small-scale fishers and mislead the department to gain approval.
The Green Connections said their complaint called out the consultants for using information from aquaculture and commercial fisheries participants in a meeting called to engage small-scale fishers.
Neville van Rooy, The Green Connection community outreach coordinator, said: “Those people who signed the attendance register were not small-scale fishers, as defined by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act.
“They, therefore, were not in a position to provide accurate information to the consultants on small-scale fisheries and fisher livelihoods.”
In a letter to Triplo4, the department said: “The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) failed to engage stakeholders which are historically opposed to the project, but they have produced a report which purports to represent fishers’ views but does not contain the views of any fishers (or) rely on the meeting participants’ views to support a conclusion that the project should be authorised.”
The DFFE has given the EAP until Friday to respond to the allegations.