High Court dismisses appeal against 2,000MW emergency power tender

Source: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

Alleging interference by senior energy officials that tainted the process to procure 2,000 megawatts (MW), South African firm DNG Energy sought to overturn a March 2021 decision picking several preferred bidders, including Turkey's Karpowership.

"The court decision enables the government and Eskom to finalise its governance and regulatory approval processes to conclude financial close with ... preferred bidders by end March 2022," an energy ministry statement said, welcoming the decision.

Besides Karpowership, which operates a fleet of powerships and will provide ship-to-shore electricity when eventually anchored at three coastal sites, Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and other firms such as Oya Energy and Umoyilanga Energy were also shortlisted.

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The ministry said it expected that selected projects will be operational and ready to augment generation capacity a year after financial closure. The government expects the projects to inject around R45bn into South Africa's economy.

However, the chief executive of DNG Energy, Aldworth Mbalati, said the company had reviewed the High Court judgment and considered there to be ample grounds for an appeal.