The opposition front against plans to deploy an electricity-generation vessel in the Gran Canaria capital has now been set at the level of the regional legislative chamber. The Socialist Group has placed severe environmental and health impacts at the center of the debate, questioning the guarantees offered by the regional executive regarding the mooring of an infrastructure for burning fossil fuels at Puerto de Las Palmas.
The PSOE spokesperson urged stopping the processing until independent reports are available on air quality and safety in the harbor basin. The stance also aligns with the misgivings expressed by the logistics sector examined by Canarymaritime about how these power plants could affect the port environment.
During the Parliamentary Commission on Ecological Transition, Socialist lawmaker Alicia Vanostende conveyed her party’s “certain concern” over the intention to locate a floating thermal power plant of 100 megawatts near populated urban centers and marine areas of high ecological value. The PSOE delegation also highlighted the vessel’s complicated international track record, citing precedents of oil spills and hydrocarbon incidents in the Dominican Republic, as well as legal disputes that led to the cancellation of similar projects in South Africa.
Against this backdrop, Socialist ranks called on the regional government to ensure maximum transparency and public health protection. The parliamentary group tied any progress to the preparation of an external technical study to determine the expected emissions of polluting gases—such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter—and also demanded a specific contingency plan to respond to any possible onboard incidents such as allisions, collisions or fuel spills in the capital’s water area.
In the face of the opposition’s pointed objections, Mariano Hernández Zapata, the Minister for Ecological Transition and Energy, said the presence of the vessel would follow a strictly “specific and temporary” scheme. The Canarian executive representative argued that the power plant would only be activated in emergency moments with an imminent blackout risk in Gran Canaria, and once the onshore thermal groups have been exhausted. Zapata assured that the ship would leave the island once the Ministry resolves state tenders for power renewal, and stressed that it will not enter service without first obtaining the corresponding environmental impact statement.
The entry PSOE tempers the Canarian government’s optimism and calls for halting Karpowership’s arrival at Las Palmas port was first published on canarymaritime.com.
