Karpowership’s floating power plant, a former cargo vessel converted into a thermal power station, is already sailing towards the coast of Gran Canaria to address an energy deficit of 120 megawatts (MW), according to 2021 data from Red Eléctrica. The regional government presents this infrastructure as a “technical safeguard” against blackouts, but the lack of transparency in the contract details—with no defined arrival date, cost, or duration—raises questions in an archipelago striving to accelerate its decarbonization. While the Ministry of Ecological Transition, led by Mariano Zapata (PP), remains silent, the track record of the Turkish company in other countries, including spill incidents and judicial scandals, casts doubt on whether this solution is a stopgap or a burden for the Canary Islands’ energy model.
The Deficit That Justifies the Emergency
The need for this floating infrastructure is not a product of improvisation but rather a structural imbalance that has long plagued the Canary Islands’ electricity system. Red Eléctrica identified a 120 MW deficit in Gran Canaria in 2021, a figure that jeopardizes supply stability on an island that relies almost exclusively on conventional thermal power plants. To address this shortfall, the Ministry for Ecological Transition has budgeted around 150 million euros for the installation of eight thermal power plants by the Sampol and Disa groups in Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife. However, these projects, which should permanently reinforce the grid, are progressing slowly due to bureaucratic red tape, paving the way for temporary solutions like Karpowership’s.
The vessel, capable of generating 100 MW, would cover most of the identified deficit. But its provisional nature—with no defined arrival date, cost, or duration—generates uncertainty among investors and energy sector professionals, who see this lack of transparency as a symptom of short-term planning. Meanwhile, the archipelago continues burning fossil fuels to meet demand, with renewables barely accounting for 20% of the Canary Islands’ electricity mix, far from the 45% target set for 2030.
Karpowership: A History of Controversies
The Turkish company, which operates a fleet of 45 vessels across twenty countries on four continents, is no stranger to environmental and political troubles. In Ghana, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Cuba, Brazil, Indonesia, and Lebanon, its floating power plants have left a trail of environmental, judicial, and political controversies. Two episodes stand out for their severity: a spill in the Dominican Republic and the fiasco in South Africa.
In the first instance, a fuel leak from one of its vessels triggered an environmental crisis along the Dominican coast, damaging marine biodiversity and sparking protests from local communities. In South Africa, Karpowership’s project to supply energy to the national grid turned into a political scandal amid allegations of corruption and lack of contract transparency, leading to the agreement’s suspension and a parliamentary inquiry. These precedents, documented by international media and environmental organizations, contrast with the “safe solution” narrative promoted by the Canary Islands government.
Dr. David Ribó, an expert in Energy Engineering, understands the arrival of the ship “just in case” but laments the absence of a clear roadmap to phase out fossil fuels in the archipelago. His remark encapsulates the paradox: the Canary Islands need a safeguard against blackouts but risk perpetuating their dependence on diesel and fuel oil if no concrete timelines for the transition are set.
The Energy Safety Net Dilemma
The metaphor of a “safety net” is useful to grasp the regional government’s stance. A safety net does not solve an underlying problem; it merely cushions its immediate consequences. In this case, Karpowership’s vessel would act as a patch while the Sampol and Disa plants come online. Yet the problem is that those 150 million euros in fossil fuel infrastructure, combined with the cost of the floating vessel (still undisclosed), represent an investment that could have been directed toward accelerating renewable energy deployment and storage.
The Canary Islands boast exceptional wind and solar potential, but project permitting remains slow, and the lack of transmission networks and storage limits their integration. In the meantime, the arrival of Karpowership, though justified by urgency, sends a contradictory signal to investors: on one hand, decarbonization is promoted; on the other, fossil fuel solutions are sought with no clear exit timeline. For an audience of professionals and investors, this ambiguity is a risk factor that could hinder funding for renewable projects in the archipelago.
Transparency and Governance: The Unfinished Business
The lack of concrete details on the Karpowership contract is another critical issue. The Canary Islands government, through the Ministry of Ecological Transition, has not disclosed the vessel’s rental cost, expected duration of its stay, or the environmental conditions imposed. This opacity contrasts sharply with the transparency required by the European Union for recovery funds, of which the Canary Islands is a beneficiary. Moreover, the fact that the ship is a converted cargo vessel, with no technical specifications on its emission and discharge control systems, adds a layer of regulatory uncertainty.
In a context where corporate reputation and sustainability are increasingly valued by investors, choosing a supplier with a controversial history could have long-term repercussions. Companies and investment funds operating in the Canary Islands might view with skepticism a solution that, although temporary, ties the archipelago’s image to a firm with multiple unresolved disputes in other countries.
A Future Demanding Decisions
Karpowership’s ship will arrive in Gran Canaria in the coming months, but its presence will not solve the structural problem of the Canary Islands’ energy system. On the contrary, it masks it. The real question is not whether this vessel will prevent blackouts in the short term, but whether the Canary Islands is willing to turn this emergency into an opportunity to accelerate its energy transition. The 150 million euros earmarked for conventional thermal plants, plus the cost of leasing the vessel, could have been invested in batteries, interconnections, and renewable plants offering a permanent, clean solution.
For the audience of HERGERT SYNTHORA, the message is clear: energy security is not built on patches but on strategic planning. The Canary Islands has the natural resources and talent to lead the transition in the mid-Atlantic but needs political will and transparency. Karpowership’s ship is, at best, a reminder that time is running out. At worst, it is a symptom that the archipelago remains trapped in a past model, while the future sails toward other ports.