SOUTH Africa’s bid to secure 2 000 megawatts of so-called emergency electricity has hit an obstacle, with Eskom asking the biggest winner of the tender to indemnify it against any adverse outcomes from corruption allegations, two people familiar with the situation said.

A losing bidder, DNG Power, alleged in a lawsuit that government officials acted corruptly in awarding Turkey’s Karpowership about 60% of the tender that will see it supplying energy from three ship-mounted power plants off the South African coast. While DNG, which demanded that it replace Karpowership, lost the High Court case in January it has been allowed to appeal.

The government and Karpowership have denied wrongdoing.

Karpowership has declined to sign an indemnity clause, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions have not been made public. Eskom has yet to revert with a new proposal they said. Eskom and Karpowership declined to comment. – Bloomberg