Karpowership Energy Deal Shouldn’t Be More Than Five Years – Ramokgopa

Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said should South Africa choose fossil fuel exploration to address the energy crisis, the deal should not be for more than five years.

Ramokgopa said with the current electricity supply constraints, bringing in Karpowership energy would immediately solve the load shedding problem.

However, Karpowerships use liquified natural gas, a cause for concern regarding the country’s climate goals and the effect on the environment when extracting fossil fuels.

Speaking at the Kusile Power Station on Monday where he was assessing progress made in returning three units back online, Ramokgopa said Karpowerships can’t be a long-term solution to load shedding.

“Power ships as a technical solution to give you these megawatts quickly is a conversation we must have, but where we are, emergencies cannot be more than five years.”

He said if government were to go the Karpowership route, it would still need to adhere to environmental obligations.

“We are not going to take shortcuts in relation to our environmental obligations. We still need to go through those hoops.”

The electricity minister further said tangible results to address load shedding would only be seen in the next six to seven months.