Power ship company that cut electricity in African cities eyes expansion

A Turkish company whose floating power ships switched off the electricity supply to two of Africa’s poorest cities in recent months says it is in talks with six more countries to expand across the continent. But critics argue it only provides a short term solution to chronic underinvestment.

Karpowership, which operates floating power plants, supplies electricity to eight African countries including Ghana, Senegal, Mozambique, and Côte d’Ivoire. The company has in recent months cut off electricity in Freetown and Bissau, the capitals of Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, after authorities failed to pay bills reportedly totalling $40 million and $15 million respectively.

The company’s chief commercial officer, Zeynep Harezi, told Semafor Africa the company is in talks with a number of African countries as part of its expansion plans. “We are in constant communication with Tanzania, Kenya, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, [and] Liberia,” Harezi said. She added that the company expects to begin operating in South Africa in the second half of next year after winning a tender to generate 1,200 megawatts — about 2% of the country’s energy supply. Only “‘ticking the box’ activities” remain before completing the process to operate in South Africa, said Harezi.

Harezi said the company’s ships, which use natural gas to generate electricity which is then sent to the grid, offered a “permanent solution” to power problems in many African countries because they were “cleaner” than other fossil fuel energy sources. “The floating power plant ship has a psychological barrier around this being a permanent solution” because it is not on land, she said.