IFC Could Fund Controversial Gas-Power Ships in South Africa

  • World Bank Group considers projects that displace oil, coal
  • LNG-fueled Karpowership is set to win bulk of power tender

Karpowership company's shipyard with powerships in Yalova.

Photographer: Ozan Kose/Getty Images
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The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. said it expressed interest in funding bidders in a South African tender for emergency power provision, including a Turkish supplier of gas-fired power plants on ships, putting it on course for a clash with climate activists.

Karpowership, the Istanbul-based company, won the bulk of the bids in March and has until the end of July to secure funding and necessary approvals and agreements to make binding a pact to supply 1,220 megawatts of power for 20 years.