The environmental impact assessment for South Africa’s first proposed offshore wind farm has stalled, with consultants awaiting new technical information from developers. The 800-megawatt Gagasi project, planned offshore from Richards Bay on the country’s east coast, was launched in 2022 by GenesisHexicon, a joint venture between Sweden’s Hexicon and South Africa’s Genesis Eco-Energy Developments. Acer (Africa) Environmental Consultants, appointed to conduct the assessment, said the environmental authorisation application was withdrawn last year and that it was unsure of the project’s current status. Acer Managing Director Dieter Heinsohn said the application was withdrawn to redesign the project from floating to anchored wind turbines for technical, rather than environmental, reasons. Hexicon did not respond to requests for comment, while Genesis Eco-Energy said it would provide a project update next month. The development comes as a World Bank study estimates that selected areas of South Africa’s coast could support approximately 95 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, mainly using floating offshore technologies. Large-scale offshore wind could contribute $6.7 billion in employment wages to the domestic economy by 2050 and reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. The World Bank said offshore wind development over the next 25 years could cut South Africa’s electricity-generation emissions by 530 million tons of CO2, supporting the continent’s climate goals and the country’s clean-energy ambitions.