Karpowership SA has announced there will be a significant boost to the South African economy, following a ruling by the independent courts on Sunday, that 2000 MW of power has received the “go-ahead”.
Karpowership SA announced today, in response to the independent court ruling that Karpowership SA projects in Saldanha, Coega and Richards Bay will provide 1220 MW of electricity directly to the power grid.
“Unlike land-based power plants which can take years to build because of construction delays, Karpowership’s floating power plants, Powerships, can deploy to South Africa immediately upon approvals and provide power to South Africa within one year of financial close.”
This is expected to help eliminate one entire stage of load shedding, bring cleaner energy to millions of people within a year, and save the South African economy billions of Rand in the medium to long-term.
Each of the 3 Karpowership SA projects will run on Liquified Natural Gas [LNG], a safe and reliable option for South Africa. LNG is the cleanest viable fuel source best able to provide the much-needed long term, stable electricity that will enable economic development across South Africa.
“LNG is a vital ingredient in helping South Africa solve its load shedding crisis at the same time as well as being recognised as the best bedrock to enable a greater proportion of renewable energy to be inserted into the energy mix.
Karpowership SA also commented: “We have always maintained that allegations made by DNG were a matter for the Courts and we have unwaveringly expressed our confidence in the Legal System of the Republic of South Africa to come to a fair and just ruling.
“We are delighted that we can now focus our efforts on the very real and urgent matter at hand: keeping the lights on for South Africa.”
The independent court ruling, Karpowership says, represents a significant milestone by removing a hurdle needed to allow power projects to move forward and provide relief to load shedding that has been crippling the national economy.
About Karpowership SA
Karpowership SA is a South African company jointly owned by Powergroup SA (Pty) Ltd, a 100% black owned, women empowered South African company and Karpowership, which owns and operates 5200MW floating power plants across Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. The 3 Karpowership SA projects will be able to provide enough power to South Africa to eliminate one full stage of load shedding. The project will invest a minimum of R18 billion directly into local economies, including contributions to skills transfer and socio-economic improvement, local suppliers, SME and women-empowered enterprise development, and Karpowership SA will recruit and develop local staff throughout the life of the contract.