A scandal erupted in South Africa last January when the National Prosecutor's Office opposed taking to court a firm of environmental consultants who may have helped the Turkish company Karadeniz Holding circumvent national environmental protection regulations.
Months earlier, the civil environmental organization Green Scorpions had accused the firm Triplo4 Sustainable Solutions, contracted by the Turkish firm that produces electricity through its fleet of powerships, for violating the National Environmental Management Law, a serious charge that would lead to a prison sentence of ten years, plus a fine.
The decision by the National Prosecutor's Office cleared the biggest obstacle to a controversial project to supply emergency electricity from gas-powered ships, dating back to 2020, and opened the door to Karadeniz's operation in South Africa, indicated a report from the local paper Times.
At the end of March 2023, a powership belonging to the Turkish company anchored in the community of Los Negros, Azua province, south of the Dominican Republic. The facility had received the approval of the national government for the installation of an electricity generating plant that would inject more than 170 megawatts into the energy system of the country, where blackouts are frequent.
The vessel’s placement in the area occurred after an initial attempt to do so was thwarted by the inhabitants of the fishing community, in 2022. On that occasion, in addition to organizing demonstrations, the locals filed appeals with the courts to avert the plant's operations, according to local media Diario Libre.
"You have to wait for it to work to see if it has an effect. You have to have proof of the damage," one resident later said, while other locals said they hoped the commencement of the electricity generator's operations would offer locals new employment opportunities.
At the beginning of June, Azua fishermen sent the newspaper a video showing the death of dozens of fish on the sands of Los Negros beach, arguing that these images represent "a situation never seen before in the area, where the trade has been plied for years," and attribute the environmental damage to the powership's operations.
Almost immediately, the Dominican Republic's Academy of Sciences requested, through a statement, an investigation into what happened.
According to the institution, Karadeniz's ships are placed in the Puerto Viejo Mangrove Wildlife Refuge, and, although the Environmental Ministry argued that the ships are not inside the protected area, but rather in the "buffer zone," "no one can claim that this company is outside the protected area, when all the species that are dying, are inside it."
"We need to clarify for the country what happened. This company benefited from an environmental license that is based on an Environmental Adaptation Plan to respond to situations of major environmental impact such as this one," added the Academy of Sciences.
In November of 2022, when the Karadeniz power generation ship sent to the Dominican Republic was unable to anchor in Azua, due to community pressure, it headed to Cuba, to join the Turkish firm's fleet on the island.
What environmental licenses did Karadeniz receive in Cuba? What impact is its operation having on the areas where its seven ships have been located on the Island?
Damage to sea life
There is sufficient research demonstrating the environmental impact of floating power plants in countries where they are operating. For example, in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa was considered a compelling reason to grant Karadeniz an exemption under Section 30A of the National Environmental Management Act.
According to Triplo4 Sustainable Solutions consultants, the power plants would provide emergency power to the hospitals that would keep fans running during breakdowns, thereby saving lives.
In that African country the plants were going to be moored in Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha. The first site is, according to South African environmental groups, an area of critical biodiversity and one of the most important coastal waterfowl habitats in the country.
The investigative journalism project AmaBhungane stated, in an extensive report, that there was "a clear indication in the literature that the noise levels that this project will emit will have an impact on the birdlife, and it is almost certain that (coastal birds) will leave the site."
Even the state entity Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife warned about the impact that the noise would have on vulnerable fish breeding areas, which could affect the local fishing industry. Therefore, it called for complementary research on the probable impact of the floating plant.
"The potential impacts of a wall of constant turbine noise could disrupt crossings of the marine [area], effectively reducing [shrimp] stocks by more than half," Ezemvelo warned in a letter cited by the journalistic investigation.
Other critics noted the need to investigate the impact that the electric ships would have on the nearby Richard's Bay Nature Reserve: "The potential disturbance of birds and solitary species on the banks of the marsh and the mangrove forest is a critical omission."
They also called for consultation of "a specialist in marine biology to determine the effects of underwater noise on marine animals."
"Any increase in anthropogenic noise could have significant effects on the environment in an ecologically sensitive area," Dr. Brent Williams and Jason Hutten wrote in a report.
A danger that is not discussed in Cuba
DIARIO DE CUBA consulted Jorge Piñón, the director of the University of Texas's Latin America and the Caribbean Energy and Environment program, about the risks that the widespread use of powerships in Cuba could pose over time.
"They're not only floating plants burning fossil fuels rich in sulfur, which pollute the environment, but also thermoelectric plants, fuel generators, as well as the steel and cement industries," he said.
According to the expert, scientific research indicates that breathing Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) emissions is linked to several health problems, from lung and cardiovascular diseases to childhood asthma.
Sulfur Dioxide emissions also cause environmental problems, such as acid rain, which affects soil and water, thus damaging biodiversity. These emissions further impact crops, forests and aquatic species, and contribute to ocean acidification, he added.
Piñón referred to studies that, over the past 20 years, have documented the problem. "Several Cuban scientists have sounded the alarm in scientific articles demonstrating the negative environmental impact of the burning of liquid petroleum fuels with high sulfur content in the industrial, electrical generation and transport sectors," he said.
To cite just three of these texts, published in English in major international journals, the study by five Cuban authors entitled "Assessing the Health Impacts of Emissions from Cuban Power Plants Using High-Sulfur Fossil Fuels," published in 2007 in Atmospheric Environment, noted: "The generation of electricity from fossil fuels has been shown to be a major source of air pollution. Most of these fossil fuels are fuel oil with rich in sulfur, around 3.5%, and domestic crude oil, with a higher sulfur content than fuel oil: between 5% and 7%.
In 2014 the International Journal of Atmospheric Sciences published the study "The Chemical and Physical Components of Rain in Cuba: Effects on Air Quality." Signed by three Cuban authors, among them Dr. Rosemary López, head of the Meteorological Institute's Center for the Study for Air Pollution, warned: "The high levels of acid deposits, mainly of sulfates in different places similar to those that have appeared in adverse environmental impacts in areas of North America, suggest that anthropogenic SO2 emissions, through the use of fossil fuels with a sulfur content of 4 to 7%, constitute the main problem in terms of air quality in Cuba."
The study adds: "Nationally, the most likely anthropogenic sources are the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, the nickel industry, cement factories, and the burning of biomass at cane plantations."
In 2021, a study by experts from Cienfuegos and Villa Clara, with the cooperation of experts from the University of Navarra, in Spain, confirmed that the three main sources of pollution in Cuba are "road traffic, industrial emissions and oil combustion."
According to the text, written by nine researchers, and published by the journal Ecological Indicators, "spatial variability was particularly useful in identifying some of these sources, including emissions from diesel and fuel oil combustion in power plants, biomass burning, and the metallurgical industries. The results also showed that V (vanadium) and Ni (nickel) were strongly associated with the combustion of oil."
In the face of the electrical crisis that Cuba is suffering, the Government insists on keeping its old thermoelectric plants running, whose obsolescence not only generates greater pollution, but also forces them to opt for Turkish powerships as a backup, due to frequent breakdowns.
Although the Government speaks of having a plan for the development of renewable energy sources, currently only 5% of the electricity on the island is from clean sources. The choice seems to be between sustaining precarious electricity generation and protecting the environment. Are they thinking about the future of the island?