Karpowership, the world’s biggest supplier of floating gas-fired power plants, is expanding its generation capacity by 50% to tap global demand even as it struggles to get projects going in SA, potentially its biggest market.
The Turkish company is poised to start generating 1,118 megawatts of power in the Ivory Coast, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and New Caledonia, a French territory, this year. Yet the three projects it won in SA have stalled, with 1,220 megawatts of planned capacity mired in legal battles and environmental controversies.
While Karpowership struggles in SA — the company won the bids in April last year — the projects elsewhere are expected to start up in well under a year. In SA, it’s yet to get environmental approvals and hasn’t managed to sign agreements with Eskom and port utilities. The award of the contracts has also attracted opposition from environmental activists who want the country to transition to renewable energy faster.
“As we have been working tirelessly to reach financial close in SA, we are about to deliver similar solutions all around the world,” Kurt Morais, Karpowership’s corporate relations manager, said in a presentation on Tuesday in Cape Town, where the company’s 278-metre Karmol LNGT Powership Asia floating storage regasification unit docked to refuel en route from Singapore to Rio de Janeiro.
The company already operates gas-fired powerships in countries ranging from Cuba to Ghana and Indonesia and also has some renewable capacity. It’s considering participating in solar-power projects in SA awarded in tenders run by the government and those planned by the City of Cape Town.
Facilities operated by Karpowership consist of a floating storage regasification unit, a vessel known as an FSRU that stores liquefied natural gas at -160°C, and a powership several hundred metres away which uses the gas to generate as much as 450 megawatts of electricity.
The ship in Cape Town can store 125,000m3 of LNG, enough to power a 450 megawatt powership operating 18 hours a day for 40 days. The FSRU is then refilled by an LNG carrier.
The company’s expansion comes as demand for FSRUs surge with Europe trying to wean itself off the use of piped gas from Russia in retaliation for that country invading Ukraine.
Brazil awarded Karpowership the right to generate 560 megawatts of power after dry weather affected its ability to produce hydro electricity, according to John Cockin, its business development coordinator.
Powerships, which can be used temporarily, are an opportunity for countries to ensure reliable energy supply while ramping up renewable production, Cockin said.
“They can change when they want,” he said. “Gas and LNG is the transition.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
— Bloomberg
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