Karpowership appeal fails amid environmental concerns: source

Karpowership, the Turkish company seeking to supply 1 220 megawatts of electricity to South Africa, had one of three appeals against adverse environmental rulings rejected, a person with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying a solution to the country’s power crisis.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment rejected the appeal to moor a ship-mounted power plant capable of generating about 450 megawatts at the Coega harbour in the Eastern Cape province, the person said.

Decisions on plants planned at the Saldanha and Richards Bay harbours have yet to be communicated to the company, the person said, asking not be identified because the government hasn’t made the information public.

The ruling complicates the South African government’s attempts to tackle the nation’s worst power crisis yet, with a shortage of generation capacity causing rotational blackouts of as many as 12 hours a day.

Albi Modise, a spokesman for the