With no cause for celebration yet regarding Karpowership SA’s energy project, an appeal is under consideration following allegations related to the qualifications and accreditation of the specialist who conducted and prepared the Major Hazard Installation assessment.
This as Karpowership SA moved one step closer in August to realising one of its three gas-to-power projects off the coast of South Africa, when the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) issued an interim decision on the company’s appeal challenging the department’s decision to reject the Environmental Authorisation for the Port of Ngqura in the Coega Special Economic Zone in the Eastern Cape.
Karpowership is one of the preferred bidders in the national government’s risk mitigation independent power producer procurement programme.
The interim decision issued by the DFFE, however, required clarity on a number of issues before Karpowership could get the green light, among them “gaps in information, including the status of the Major Hazard Installation Assessment Report”.
DA MP Dave Bryant recently asked DFFE Minister Barbara Creecy whether she and/or her department had investigated “the veracity of certain claims made by a certain person in a sworn statement signed at Melkbosstrand police station, dated October 12 2022, in which he presented himself as an independent specialist and further presented himself to her department as the holder of a BSc environmental management (chemistry) degree”.
In response, Creecy said: “The issue regarding the accreditation and qualification of the specialist who conducted the Major Hazard Installation assessment for the various Karpowership gas-to-power projects was not raised during the Environmental Impact Assessment process. This issue was raised in the media.
“On 28 August 2023, the department issued an interim appeal decision on the Karpowership gas-to-power project in Coega.
“In the interim appeal decision, the minister recorded that ... is unable to make an informed decision on the appeal due to the various gaps in information, including the status of the Major Hazard Installation Assessment Report, among others.
“The minister therefore directed that Karpowership provide the department with, among others, confirmation of the relevant qualifications, accreditation and experience of the specialist who conducted and prepared the Major Hazard Installation assessment within seven days of the interim appeal decision.”
Creecy confirmed that the appeal was still under consideration.
Karpowership SA did not respond by deadline on Sunday to requests for comment around the allegations and whether the relevant information had been provided to the minister yet.
Meanwhile, during his update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the Kusile power station was central to addressing load shedding, starting with Unit 4, which had been taken out during a 20-day outage that contributed to planned maintenance “packing about 800MW”.
Three units were shut down last year October after a flue-gas desulphurisation mechanism failed.
“I’m happy to say Unit 4 is back online this morning, so essentially we are adding 800MW to the capacity available.
“Unit 3 and Unit 1 will be received by October. Next month we get an additional 1600 MW.
“Unit 2 is expected to come back by November 30.”
He added that Unit 5 would provide an additional 800MW in new generation capacity over time.
Cape Times