Karpowership Richards Bay power station
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Karpowership Richards Bay power station is an announced power station in Port of Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Karpowership Richards Bay power station | Port of Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | -28.79483, 32.031704 (exact)[1] |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- 1: -28.79483, 32.031704
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | CHP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Announced[2][3][4][5] | fossil gas: LNG, fossil liquids: fuel oil[1][6][7] | 450[8][9] | ICCC[1] | not found |
CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karpowership South Africa [100%][1] | Karadeniz Holding AŞ |
Background
The plant is one of the six gas-to-power plants proposed in the Richard’s Bay Area. Other plants include: Richards Bay (Eskom) power station (3000 MW), Nseleni Independent Floating power station-NFIPP (2800 MW), Phinda Power Plant (450 MW), Richards Bay Gas to Power Plant 3 (2000 MW), and Richards Bay Gas to Power Plant 2 (400 MW).
It is also one of three floating natural gas power stations Karpowership has proposed at ports in South Africa, including Karpowership Coega power station[10] and Karpowership Saldanha power station.[11]
In March 2021, the South African government chose Karpowership to supply 1.220MW of electricity to address power shortages in the country.
The three proposed Karpowership projects were estimated to cost US $15.4bn over two decades.
Karpowership’s floating power plants have emerged as a temporary solution to provide energy to developing countries.
Advantages of the Karpowership floating power plants include:
(i) They can be deployed in less than 30 days.[12]
(ii) The ships come with their own fuel for electricity generation.[12]
(iii) They can feed power to remote areas.[12]
Opposition
ESI Africa reported that “The Department had received written notice on 31 May 2021 from non-profit organization The Green Connection, which alleged non-compliance with Regulation 13 of the EIA regulation in the Saldanha application, by the appointed Environmental Assessment Practitioner. At that time, the Competent Authority suspended the application to investigate the veracity of the allegations.”[13]
In June 2021, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) refused Karpowership SA’s application for Environmental Authorization to develop gas to power via power ships at three ports in South Africa, including Karpowership Coega power station[10] and Karpowership Saldanha power station.[14][13]
Following the rejection of the environmental authorisation in 2021, Karpowership undertook an EIA process for an EA and AEL authorisation. The company failed to meet the requirements necessary to be granted an environmental authorisation due to a flawed public participation process. This was followed by an attempt to refine the public participation process at the end of 2022. In October 2023, for the first time, Karpowership Richards Bay was granted a conditional environmental authorisation effective only after completion of a pre-monitoring process 12 months prior to construction works to evaluate environmental impacts on Avifauna species.
In the midst of appeals by several civil society organisations such as groundwork and the centre for environmental rights, in November 2023, Karpowership requested the restoration of the environmental authorisation to the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd retrieved the transmission capacity reserved to Karpowership SA due to the failure to meet the deadline of 31 December 2023 for completion of financial arrangements. Bid window allocation for all powerships ended in December 2023. .[13][11]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20221124155036/https://sahris.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/additionaldocs/Draft%20EIAR%20-%20Gas%20to%20Power%20via%20Powership%20-%20Port%20of%20Richards%20Bay%20-%20Feb%202021.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221014082014/https://karpowership.com/en/karpowership-sa-appointed-as-preferred-bidder-on-the-rmipppp. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221107060430/https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/south-africa-refuses-karpowership-environmental-authorisations-2021-06-24/. Archived from the original on 07 November 2022.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210923061010/https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/africa/lng-africa/336658/karpowership-dffe-appeal-lng/. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220606060329/https://www.africaintelligence.com/eastern-and-southern-africa_business/2022/05/04/opponents-to-karpowership-floating-power-plants-ready-to-do-battle,109782293-art. Archived from the original on 06 June 2022.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220425142029/https://www.upstreamonline.com/lng/lng-deal-at-centre-of-legal-and-environmental-storm-in-south-africa/2-1-1016065. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20221207010154/https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/shell-expresses-concern-over-rmipppp-delays-as-it-confirms-karpowership-sa-partnership-2021-07-13. Archived from the original on 07 December 2022.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20221124155508/https://sahris.sahra.org.za/sites/default/files/additionaldocs/Gas%20To%20Power%20Final%20Scopinf%20Report-%2017112020.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20220708180342/https://www.nersa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2021/10/Karpowership-SA-Coega-RF-Pty-Ltd-RfD.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 08 July 2022.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 10.0 10.1 Global Energy Monitor Wiki https://www.gem.wiki/Karpowership_Coega_power_station. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 11.0 11.1 "South Africa rejects environmental permits for Karpowership's projects". NS ENERGY. 25 June 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Floating Power Plants Are Taking to the High Seas". gCaptain. 2020-05-01. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Government denies Karpowership environmental authorisation -". ESI-Africa.com. 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-19.
- ↑ Global Energy Monitor Wiki https://www.gem.wiki/Karpowership_Saldanha_power_station. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of gas-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
