SOUTH AFRICA’S recent success in securing the majority of the world’s biggest radio telescope project has jeopardised the plans of energy companies to extract gas from the Karoo desert, where both projects are earmarked for development.
Last Friday South Africa won the right to host up to 70 per cent of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a €1.6 billion project that involves the construction of more than 3,000 dishes and receptors across much of the Northern Cape province.
When finished in 2024, the SKA will be used to answer many of the universe’s remaining conundrums, such as whether alien life exists. The telescope will be able to see 10 times further into the universe than its closest rival, and operate 10,000 times faster.
However, the successful SKA bid has cast doubt on whether energy companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Sasol can proceed with their intention to use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, to extract the estimated 485 trillion cubic feet of shale gas under the Karoo.
Fracking involves blasting large amounts of water and sand underground to free natural gas from shale deposits, but the extraction method is highly controversial.
Critics say it pollutes water and causes earth tremors, which would play havoc with the sensitivity of the receptors the SKA radio telescope will use to gather data from space.
The South African government, following complaints from locals, suspended a number of fracking licences last year so independent research could be carried out.
In early May energy minister Dipuo Peters said she hoped government would approve fracking. “It would be wrong for us to not use the resource ... we need to exploit for the benefit of the people,” she said. The results of the independent study have yet to be made public.
The area in the Karoo where the SKA is to be located and where the shale gas has been found is subject to the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act of 2007, which prohibits activities that interfere with stargazing.
After the SKA announcement, South African science minister Naledi Pandor, when questioned about whether fracking the Karoo was still on the cards, said: “There is no decision by government on that. We must understand the science before any licence is given, but I will use the astronomy advantage act if necessary.”
Whether the SKA and fracking can co-exist in the Karoo has yet to be decided.
