After a swathe of environmental appeals processes, on 25 October Richards Bay grew to become the primary environmentally licensed web site for Karpowership’s gas-to-electricity operations. Decisions are pending on Saldanha within the Western Cape and Coega within the Eastern Cape.
As all the time in contested issues, the satan is within the element — on this case, an inventory of 34 particular situations within the 27-page Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) environmental authorisation determination doc.
“A 12-month pre-construction monitoring for avifaunal species must be undertaken to inform the scale and magnitude of the residual impacts… The monitoring must be undertaken prior to construction commencing.”
Plainly put, a year-long fowl counting and monitoring mission is required earlier than any development begins on the required 3.6km powerline to the nationwide grid by way of Bayside Impala and a switching station. That’s as a result of a baseline for the birdlife have to be set so the impression of the development might be measured — and off-sets or compensation decided.
But Karpowership SA says that monitoring has already been finished. “A full 12-month bird count has already been undertaken by the avifaunal specialists and thus in full compliance to the condition in the authorisation,” the corporate stated in an emailed response to a request for remark.
A closing improvement structure, together with all available biodiversity data, have to be submitted to the DFFE for “written approval prior to commencement of activities”, based on the authorisation. It couldn’t instantly be confirmed how far alongside that course of was and the way the sequencing of situations was to unfold.
Apart from birds, monitoring of elephants and black and white rhinos can also be among the many situations of the Richards Bay environmental authorisation.
Central right here is Karpowership’s acquisition of the Madaka Game Ranch, which was launched to the sellers by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife simply forward of a deliberate public sale in March that was subsequently cancelled, as amaBhungane reported in September.
Read extra in Daily Maverick: Karpowership sport ranch ‘donation’ raises new stink over inexperienced offset schemes
“The Madaka Game Ranch must be incorporated into the Ithala Game Reserve and registered as a biodiversity protected area… A formal agreement to this effect must be concluded within 18 months from the date of issue of this environmental authorisation and records must be submitted to the department for record keeping,” says the 25 October environmental authorisation citing biodiversity targets like elephant and black and white rhino populations.
The Ithala Game Reserve is publicly owned and managed by Ezemvelo.
But again to birds.
After the pre-construction 12-month birdwatching, one other 12-month monitoring interval begins as soon as the development is accomplished.
“Results from the monitoring will inform implementation of and any enhancement to the proposed mitigation measures to ensure that the development does not have a long-term impact on the SCCs [species of conservation concerns] and migratory waders in the area,” the environmental authorisation says.
Monitoring additionally contains the Sandspit and Kabeljous Flats — waders and tern territory — for which Karpowership SA informed Daily Maverick by e mail it “already has a full complement of suitably qualified and professionally registered specialists to ensure compliance to the conditions of the environmental authorisations”.
Mired in controversy
The Richards Bay environmental authorisation has come on the again of years of controversy over the gas-to-electricity offshore operations in South Africa and elsewhere.
Up the African coast, Karpowership in October minimize off energy to Guinea-Bissau’s capital, Bissau, over a $17-million debt, based on Reuters, which in September reported that the corporate minimize energy to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, over a $40-million debt.
South Africa’s 20-year Karpowership deal for 1,220MW estimated at R228-billion has been mired in controversy and litigation almost from the beginning. One of the unsuccessful bidders went to court docket after the corporate, owned by the Turkish Karadeniz Holding, in March 2021 was named the popular bidder within the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s 2,000MW emergency energy mission, formally referred to as the danger mitigation unbiased energy producer procurement programme (RMI4P).
Since then, there have been a number of appeals towards environmental evaluation and allow processes over shoddy execution and failure to conduct significant public consultations.
Over the previous two and a half years, the federal government has prolonged the deadline for monetary shut not less than 4 instances — the latest being the top of 2023 — whereas the nationwide power regulator, Nersa, in September 2021 allotted the mandatory 20-year era licence and the Transport Ministry in February 2023 granted Karpowership access to the ports of Richards Bay, Saldanha and Coega.
However, all this has come at a time when it’s being requested whether or not an emergency energy provision mission remains to be related. Renewable power has mushroomed on rooftops, at firm premises and in a plethora of unbiased energy initiatives that feed into the Eskom grid.
Cost issues
In May 2022, the then Eskom chief operations officer Jan Oberholzer informed the McCloskey Southern African Coal Conference the state energy utility was reluctant to signal a 20-year energy buy settlement, significantly because the fuel worth was not mounted. “The risk is just too high,” News24 quoted him as saying.
Daily Maverick understands Eskom, which is now unable to borrow additional below February’s R254-billion bailout situations, continues to have reservations in regards to the Karpowership deal.
Perhaps it’s towards this backdrop that Karpowership has now on public document indicated it is going to supply the federal government an exit clause after 5 or 10 years of the 20-year deal. It’s understood an early exit would set off penalty funds.
The firm’s chief business officer, Zeynep Harezi Yilmaz, on Tuesday on SAfm Sunrise maintained the gas-to-electricity powerships had been South Africa’s first steps in its power transition.
With the environmental authorisations for Saldanha and Coega anticipated shortly, monetary shut was anticipated by the top of 2023 with operations to begin later in 2024, added Harezi Yilmaz.
An analogous message was conveyed within the emailed responses to Daily Maverick on Wednesday:
“We are proud to be able to play a significant role with our LNG-to-Power technology in Richards Bay where our current focus is on meeting financial close. We remain committed to seeking environmental approval for our other two other projects at Saldanha Bay and Coega.”
If that does happen, the situations of these two DFFE environmental authorisations stay to be seen.
At Richards Bay it’s been one for the birds — with counting, monitoring and “avian biodiversity and species abundance” data for the custody of Birdlife South Africa. DM
