Storm brews over South African ship-based energy plan

[开普敦]预计将授予一项交易，以结束南非的持续energycrisis could contribute to higher emissions and provide a short-term solution rather than a long-term one, experts say.

Globally, nearly 750 million people will lack access to electricity in 2050, with more than 95 per cent of them in Sub‐Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its Net Zero by 2050报告.

South Africa is facing some of the worst blackouts on record.Research从总部位于比勒陀利亚的科学和工业研究委员会（CSIR）表明，这些滚动停电在2019年无电，无电，经济损失了60亿兰特至100亿兰特。

“Instead of renting out foreign-run power ships, which will ultimately leave us in 20 years’ time, we could be investing in infrastructure that would provide jobs.”

Thandile Chinyavanhu, Greenpeace Africa

On 19 March, Karpowership, a company that owns ship-mounted power plants, was revealed as a preferred bidder by South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to provide 1,220 megawatts of energy under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMI4P).

In the deal, Karpowership would supply South Africa with five power ships operating on liquified natural gas from 2022 to 2042 at a cost of R218 billion (about US$13.3 billion).

“The idea behind the RMI4P is to get power … to stop load shedding [blackouts] and give us enough time to launch the long-term infrastructure procurements and investments needed to have a sustainable energy supply,” says Lauren Hermanus, a doctoral candidate at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and founder of Adapt, a sustainable development network.

“Gas is something that can be used to balance a renewable energy-based system, for example, where there is variability in the system due to reliance on sun or wind.”

但是，绿色和平组织的气候和能源活动家Thandile Chinyavanhu发现该交易提议的20年合同有问题。

“That would lock us into a higher emissions trajectory until beyond 2040 without a clear plan for renewable energy procurement,” she says. “Instead of renting out foreign-run power ships, which will ultimately leave us in 20 years’ time, we could be investing in infrastructure that would provide jobs for South African youth.”

Over 41 per cent of South Africans aged 25-35 are currently without work, according to South Africa-based statistics agencyStats SA. Total unemployment in the country is at a record 7.2 million.

The potentialenvironmentalimpact of the Karpowership deal is also concerning, says Liziwe McDaid, an energy advisor at non-profit organisation, The Green Connection. Investigations carried out by them revealed Karpowership’s environmental assessments lacked key数据关于它对本地的影响钓鱼and marine communities.

“From an environmental governance perspective, [the] government didn’t have the full information on the table that it needed when deciding to approve Karpowership,” she says.

karpowhers没有回复来自SciDev.Netfor a response to these concerns.

A global shift to cleantechnologyhas been called for by the IEA, which urgesgovernmentsto put “R&D, demonstration and deployment at the core of energy and climate policy”.

然而，对于赫曼努斯而言，如果没有本地制造作为绿色工业化战略的一部分，就无法进行这种转变。赫曼努斯说：“它必须追求一条工作富裕并具有公平的经济发展的道路。”

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。