South Africa’s long-standing deal with Karpowership, the Turkish-based company contracted to supply the country with electricity, has come to a decisive end.
In a recent online briefing, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, South Africa’s Minister of Electricity, declared that the agreement is “dead in the water.”
Karpowership, a unit of Turkey’s Karadeniz Energy Group, had won a government auction three years ago, securing a contract to provide 1.2 GW of power over a 20-year period.
The deal was valued at an impressive approximately $11.4 billion USD at the time of the agreement.
However, the project hit a major roadblock after the company failed to finalize financial arrangements, which led to the loss of transmission capacity that Eskom, the national power utility, had set aside for the power supply.
In January, Karpowership officially lost the right to access the transmission infrastructure due to its inability to meet the required financial commitments.
Minister Ramokgopa, in reflecting on the situation, confirmed that the government has moved on from the bid, stating, “It’s behind us.”
The collapse of this deal underscores the ongoing challenges South Africa faces in stabilizing its power supply amidst years of energy shortages.