The National Energy Regulator of SA has told The Green Connection that it will oppose its court application to review and set aside the decision to grant three electricity generation licences to Karpowership South Africa.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) last week notified The Green Connection that it will oppose the sustainable development NGO's court application to review and set aside the decision to grant three electricity generation licences to Karpowership South Africa.

This was on the same day that the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, laid out the department's budget for the 2022/23 financial year.

In September 2021, Nersa approved the Karpowership licences despite the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment's refusal to grant environmental authorisation.

Nersa ignored the public outcry, particularly from small-scale fishing communities around Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape, Ngqurha (Coega) in the Eastern Cape and Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, where these floating power plants were to be anchored.

Small-scale fishers are mainly concerned about the irreparable damage that powerships and other oil and gas projects could cause to marine life and ecosystems, thereby affecting their livelihoods.

The Green Connection's Liz McDaid said that as Africa's largest carbon emitter,...