Karpowership Faces Second Environmental Complaint in South Africa

(Bloomberg) -- Karpowership, which is seeking to supply South Africa with 1,220 megawatts of electricity from three ship-based power plants, is facing a second complaint from environmental activists that could slow or upend its plans.

The Centre for Environmental Rights, a group of lawyers, filed a complaint to South Africa’s environment department on behalf of groundWork, an activist group, asking for the approval process to be halted in two of the three locations -- Richards Bay and Ngqura-- where the ships could be moored.

The complaint adds to an earlier one filed by the Green Connection that led to the approval process being halted in Saldanha Bay.

groundWork, which confirmed the document seen by Bloomberg, said the three applications by Karpowership were very similar and the presence of the ships could harm sea life and ecosystems.

Karpowership said it wasn’t immediately aware of the complaint.

The mooring of the power plant in Richards Bay could threaten mangrove swamps and estuaries where prawns spawn and juvenile fish congregate while Algoa Bay, where Ngqura lies, is one of the world’s four Whale Heritage sites, groundWork said.

(Updates with groundWork’s concerns in last paragraph)

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