South Africa announced on Thursday that it had granted the Turkish company Karpowership 20 years of access to the ports of Ngqura, Durban, and Saldanha Bay in an effort to resolve the country’s power crisis.
Karpowership intends to generate electricity with its gas-powered ships, which will then be fed into South Africa’s power grid. Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the plan a boost, telling lawmakers that the ships would help alleviate the country’s long-standing power shortage.
Karpowership has faced numerous challenges from environmental activists and small-scale fishermen since the South African government awarded it the largest share of a 2,000 megawatt emergency power tender to generate electricity in 2021.
The Ministry of Transport announced on Thursday that it had approved the application submitted by Transnet National Ports Authority on February 26.
Opposition parties have expressed their opposition to the multibillion-rand contract, claiming that 20 years is too long for an emergency power supply and that none of Karpowership’s other contracts in countries such as Ghana and Brazil are for such a long period.
South Africa’s state power utility Eskom warned the country on Thursday to brace itself for increased daily power outages due to increased demand ahead of the winter season.
The GDP of Africa’s most industrialized economy has fallen as a result of power outages lasting more than 10 hours per day.
The majority of South Africa’s electricity is supplied by aging, inefficient coal-fired power plants that are prone to breakdowns due to a lack of investment.
