Kenya: President Ruto Opens Africa Energy Forum Attended By 4,000 DelegatesA clean energy transition across the world’s developing nations will be crucial to keep alive the Paris Agreement goal of capping global warming “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, and 1.5C (2.7F) if possible. To make that happen, the International Energy Agency says investment will need to surge to $2 trillion a year within a decade – an eightfold increase. Speakers at the summit have doubled down on calls to reform global financial structures to align with climate and green development goals. Al-Jaber called for a “surgical intervention of the global financial architecture that was built for a different era”, urging institutions to lower debt burdens. On the opening day of the summit, President Ruto said trillions of dollars in “green investment opportunities” would be needed as the climate crisis accelerates. “Africa holds the key to accelerating decarbonisation of the global economy. We are not just a continent rich in resources. We are a powerhouse of untapped potential, eager to engage and fairly compete in the global markets,” Ruto said. . The summit’s focus on some climate finance proposals has drawn opposition from some environmental quarters, with hundreds of demonstrators protesting near the conference venue in Nairobi on its opening day. A coalition of civil society groups has been urging Ruto to steer global climate priorities away from what it perceives as a Western-led agenda that champions carbon markets and other financial tools to redress the climate crisis.
Kenya: UAE Pledges US$4.5 Billion For Green Energy At Africa Climate Summit
The United Arab Emirates has pledged $4.5bn investments in clean energy in Africa at the Africa Climate Summit, currently underway in Nairobi, capital of Kenya.
Sultan al-Jaber, who heads the UAE’s national oil company ADNOC and government-owned renewable energy company Masdar, said the investment would “jumpstart a pipeline of bankable clean energy projects in this very important continent”.
Al-Jaber, who is also president of the COP28 climate summit, said a consortium including Masdar would help develop 15 gigawatts of clean power by 2030.
Africa’s renewable generation capacity was 56GW in 2022, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
The three-day Nairobi summit, which began on Monday, has attracted heads of state, government and industry, including leaders from Mozambique and Tanzania, as well as United Nations head Antonio Guterres, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and United States’ climate envoy John Kerry.
It is billed as bringing together African leaders to define a shared vision for green development on the diverse continent of 1.4 billion and set the tone for a flurry of international diplomacy leading up to the COP28 meeting.
But the continent faces steep challenges, particularly in the form of mounting debt costs and a dearth of finance. Despite an abundance of natural resources, just 3 percent of energy investments worldwide are made in the continent.
Guterres urged the international community to help “make Africa a renewable energy superpower”.
“Renewable energy could be the African miracle, but we must make it happen,” Guterres told government and industry leaders.
With the world falling far short of its global goals to limit warming, Guterres spoke directly to the Group of 20 nations, whose leaders are meeting in India at the weekend, and told them to “assume your responsibilities” in the battle to reduce planet-warming emissions.
Senegal: ContourGlobal, Wärtsilä Sign Long-Term Service Agreement To Ensure Power Supply Reliability
Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a long-term service agreement for two years with ContourGlobal, a global energy provider based in the U.S.
The agreement covers the company’s 86MW Cap des Biches power plant in Dakar, Senegal.
The plant dispatches power to the national electricity distributor Senelec, and reliability of supply is essential.
The Wärtsilä agreement is designed to ensure that the customer’s commercial and contractual terms and conditions are met.
The scope of the agreement includes all spare parts for major overhauls of the engines, optional field service personnel to carry out maintenance tasks, along with a guarantee limiting the downtime during scheduled maintenance procedures.
“We have worked closely with Wärtsilä on projects in different countries, and appreciate the professional and highly qualified support that they are able to deliver. This agreement provides us with important guarantees that will allow us to supply electricity to the grid in line with our commitments. Furthermore, it provides predictability of costs, while freeing our people to focus on their core business,” said ContourGlobal’s CEO for Africa, Ara Hovsepyan.
“Our partnership with ContourGlobal has been strong for a number of years, and this agreement represents another step in furthering the relationship. Long-term service agreements are a central element in our lifecycle support approach to meeting the specific operational needs of our customers. They come with guarantees that promote both reliability and operational performance,” commented Marc Thiriet, Energy Business Director, Africa, at Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä has earlier supplied engines and energy storage systems for ContourGlobal power plants in various countries in Africa and the Caribbean.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: GRIDCo’s Internal Audit Manager Sworn In As President Of Institute Of Internal Auditors
Ghana’s Grid Company’s Internal Audit Manager, Mr Joseph Zumasigee has been sworn in as the 7th President of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) in the Republic of Ghana.
The Institute of Internal Audit is a global organisation focused on internal auditing.
The induction ceremony happened on August 30, 2023, in Accra, and it brought together members of the IIA, some staff of GRIDCo and some family members of the inductee.
Delivering his address after the induction, Mr Zumasigee pledged to address challenges in Ghana’s operational environment and promote good governance practices.
The Director-General of the Internal Audit Service Dr. Eric Oduro Osae expressed support for the new council.
Before his election, Mr Zumasigee had served as Vice President of the Institute.
In a post sighted by this portal, his employer, Ghana Grid Company congratulated him for the honour he had brought to the organisation and himself, as well as his family.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Delivering his address after the induction, Mr Zumasigee pledged to address challenges in Ghana’s operational environment and promote good governance practices.
The Director-General of the Internal Audit Service Dr. Eric Oduro Osae expressed support for the new council.
Before his election, Mr Zumasigee had served as Vice President of the Institute.
In a post sighted by this portal, his employer, Ghana Grid Company congratulated him for the honour he had brought to the organisation and himself, as well as his family.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com Kenya: President Ruto Urges Africa To Seize Climate Financing Opportunities
Kenyan President William Ruto has urged African leaders who are attending the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi to see the climate crisis as a unique opportunity for the continent to attract billions of dollars in investment.
Organisers say they anticipate hundreds of millions of dollars in deals to be announced at the three-day summit, during which they aim to showcase Africa as a destination for climate investment rather than a victim of floods, drought and famine.
African leaders are pushing market-based financing instruments such as carbon credits in a bid to mobilize funding that they say has been slow to arrive from rich-world donors.
“For a very long time we have looked at this as a problem. It is time we flipped and looked it from the other side,” Ruto told delegates.
“We must see in green growth not just a climate imperative but also a fountain of multi-billion dollar economic opportunities that Africa and the world is primed to capitalise,” he said.
Many African campaigners, however, have opposed the summit’s approach to climate finance, saying it advances Western priorities at the expense of the continent.
They say carbon credits, which allow polluters to offset emissions by funding green activities, are a pretext for wealthier countries and corporations to continue polluting.
Kenya: President Ruto Drives Electric Car To Climate Change Summit Venue
Kenyan President, William Ruto, on Sunday, drove himself in an electric car to the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) where the Africa Climate Summit is taking place between Monday, September 4, and Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
According to a video shared online, the President is seen driving a yellow car from the State House to KICC.
The President was accompanied by an all-electric motorcade comprising two motorbike outriders, two cars and two electric bicycles.
The President visited the KICC to attend the Africa Youth Climate Assembly, a precursor to the African Climate Summit which started today, Monday.
The African Climate Summit will run parallel with the Africa Climate Week which will run from September 4—8.
Over 30,000 delegates are expected to attend the summit including over 25 heads of state and government.
While opening the African Youth Climate Assembly on Saturday, Ruto called on the youth to unite and participate in the event.
He said witnessing brilliant young minds from across the continent showcase climate solutions gives him immense joy.
“Two months ago, under the Eiffel Tower, I called upon the youth of the world to join us in Nairobi to champion the global climate,” he said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: PURC Probes ECG Customers’ Complaints Of High Estimated Bills
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) is investigating complaints by some post-paid customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) that they have been given higher estimated bills for about three months.
The Commission disclosed this in a statement issued and signed by its Executive Secretary, Dr Ismail Ackah, on Monday, September 4, 2023.
The Electricity Company of Ghana is responsible for power distribution in the southern part of the Republic of Ghana.
“The Commission is closely monitoring and investigating the situation where some customers were issued with perceived high estimated bills for May 2023, June 2023, and July 2023, to ensure amicable resolution of these issues,” Dr Ackah said.
He encouraged all affected customers to report such high estimated bills on their post-paid meters to ECG for resolution.
“If they are, however, not satisfied with the ECG resolution, affected customers can report to the Commission’s Regional Offices on the following contact numbers: Accra, 0540126201; Kumasi, 0540126202; Ho, 0540126206; Takoradi, 0540126203; Koforidua, 0540126205 and Cape Coat, 0540126208,” he added.
Dr. Ackah assured the Commission’s stakeholders of their commitment to protecting the interests of consumers and utility service providers.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
South Africa: Eskom Begs South Africans To Put Off Non-Essential Appliances As It Implements Stage 6 Load Shedding Indefinitely
South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has announced that it will, on Tuesday, escalate stage ‘6’ load shedding indefinitely.
In a statement on Monday, Eskom said the stage ‘6’ load shedding will be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday and will only publish an update should any significant changes occur.
Giving reasons for the indefinite load shedding, Eskom attributed the development to an increase in generation planned maintenance as well as the loss of a further two generation units on Monday.
Eskom added that a further two units at Lethabo and Matla power stations would need to be shut down for urgent repairs.
Eskom noted that breakdowns are currently at 16,210MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,894MW.
“Since Sunday, a generating unit each at Kriel and Medupi power stations was taken offline for repairs.
“In the same period, a generating unit at Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and Lethabo power stations was returned to service.
“The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints,” Eskom said.
Eskom assured that its teams are working tirelessly to return these generating units to service.
The power utility said its forecast for the evening peak demand is 28,603MW and appealed to the public to continue reducing demand by switching off non-essential appliances.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
UK Fuel Prices See One Of The Largest Monthly Increases In 23 Years
UK drivers experienced a big shock at the pump in August as the prices of gasoline and diesel saw some of the biggest monthly jumps in 23 years amid rallying international crude oil prices, RAC, the UK’s longest-serving motoring organization, said on Monday.
The price of gasoline in the UK rocketed by nearly 6.68 pence per liter in August while diesel shot up by 8 pence, making for the fifth and sixth biggest monthly rises in 23 years, data from RAC Fuel Watch shows.
The average price of unleaded gasoline made filling up a tank $5.05 (£4) more expensive in August compared to July, while the price of diesel at the end of August made a fill-up $5.57 (£4.41) more expensive, RAC said.
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“The rising prices at the pumps have been caused by the increasing cost of oil, which has gone up nearly $12 since the start of July to nearly $87 a barrel now, due to producer group OPEC+ reducing supply,” RAC said.
“This led to the wholesale cost of fuel – the price retailers pay – going up, which in turn has been passed on to drivers on the forecourt,” the organization noted.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams commented, “August was a big shock to drivers as they had grown used to seeing far lower prices than last summer’s record highs.”
At the start of September, crude oil prices hit the highest level so far this year amid a tightening market and expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia would extend their supply cuts into October.
WTI exceeded $85 per barrel and Brent topped $88 a barrel on Friday and continued to trade above those levels in Asian trade on Monday. Meanwhile, gasoline prices in the U.S. also climbed.
Despite the higher WTI price, gasoline prices in the United States could fall in the coming weeks, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Friday.
“WTI crude surpasses $85/bbl, the highest level since November, but the outlook for #gasprices is still for an eventual fade that will start with the switch back to cheaper winter gasoline which happens on September 16,” De Haan tweeted.
Source: Oilprice.com
Renewable Energy Offers Africa’s Best Opportunity To Achieve Sustainable Development Goals, Experts Say
Africa must increase investment in developing its renewable energy and attract greater support of the private sector and international financial institutions if it is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, experts at the Financial Mobilisation for the Extractive Sector stressed at a workshop held in Abidjan recently.
The continent should also control, exploit and transform its enormous mineral resources locally in order to generate the financial resources needed for its development, urged the experts, who represented a dozen African countries, during an African Development Bank workshop held on August 23-24, 2023.
Speaking during a panel discussion on “Financial modelling for a just energy transition for certain critical minerals in transition countries”, Director for Policy and Research at Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources Dr. John David Cooper said renewable energy gave his country opportunities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We also need to be major players in the energy field,” Dr. Cooper said.
Participants noted that Africa has made considerable progress in energy transition despite the challenges.
Pointing to the scale of the challenges still ahead, Silas Olang, Energy Transition Advisor for Africa at the Natural Resources Governance Institute in Accra, Ghana, said that no African country ranks among the world’s top 30 in energy transition.
He mentioned Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa as examples of countries implementing ambitious renewable energy development policies.
Renewable energy has the potential to provide electricity to the 600 million Africans currently deprived of it, create jobs and stimulate industrialisation.
“Every dollar invested in renewable energies will yield an additional $0.93, and the deployment of renewable energies will progressively lead to lower costs, unlike fossil fuels,” Dr. Cooper said.
In addition to solar energy, Africa’s renewable assets include wind power, biomass, hydroelectricity and minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt, which are needed for renewable energy technologies including the production of solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles.
A key theme of the discussions was the need for the continent to take better advantage of its immense mining resources for sustainable development.
Director General for the Economy in Niger’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance Dogari Bassirou said his country’s uranium was exploited by France and its oil by China.
He said this resulted in huge financial losses for African governments, who more often than not had to make do with foreign mining companies’ statements on mineral content.
Dr. Cooper said the minerals were processed not in Africa but in European countries and China.
“80% of African cobalt is refined in China. If we could refine the minerals in Africa we could sell them at a higher rate, because raw exports limit our financial gains. We are losing out enormously in the current system,” Dr. Cooper said.
Boubacar Lounceny Camara, representing Guinea, said countries needed help to better master the processes of setting costs and determining impurities in ores.
“We say, for example, that the grade is 45%, but how can we verify and determine this,” Camara said.
He called on the African Development Bank to assist African countries in setting up mineral processing plants prior to export.
“The price of raw gold is determined according to the amount of gold refined. But it’s the companies that give us the quantity of refined gold. This leads to huge losses. The metals leaving our countries contain other mineral resources,” he said.
Camara also said that Guinea had been able to define a bauxite reference price with the support of its international partners and was ready to share its experience with other African countries.
To boost the development of renewable energy resources, each African country must have a clear vision and draw up laws distinct from those applied to fossil fuels.
As for financing the sector, Dogari Bassirou said, governments needed to create a stable political environment, adopt laws that are attractive to the private sector, set up transparent budgetary systems and fight corruption.
According to Bassirou, the private sector, with its financial power and expertise, could play a crucial role, as can international financial institutions.
He said the latter must help countries to set up regional projects, and act as a catalyst in mobilising additional investment.
Yannick Bouterige, Research Assistant at the Foundation for Development Studies and Research (FERDI) explained how the African Development Bank, through its Extractive Sector Financial Modelling Project, was assisting African countries to mobilise more tax revenue, build institutional capacity and strengthen resilience.
Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Zimbabwe had already benefited from this two-year programme, which launched in 2020.
Innocent Onah, Chief Natural Resources Officer at the African Centre for Natural Resources Management and Investment (ECNR) Centre at the African Development Bank, said the Bank had several financing instruments, investment projects and departments dedicated to the sector that benefit all African countries.
“Our new Climate Action Window of about $429 million could provide a great opportunity for financing low carbon projects from renewable natural resources in Africa,” Onah said.
Source: AfDB
China’s Biggest Coal Company Is Seizing Its Opportunity To Build More Plants
China’s biggest coal power generating company plans to revive some projects that were suspended earlier as the country’s government prioritizes energy security over the transition.
This prioritization opens up opportunities for boosting China’s already considerable coal generation capacity, with Shenhua Energy Co. planning to build more coal power plants before 2025.
The company is a unit of the biggest coal mining company in the country: China Energy Investment Corp.
Last year, China’s total coal output rose by 9% to 4.5 billion tons, which represented over half of the world’s total.
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“As the country’s latest round of power system optimization progresses, the company is seizing the window of opportunity for thermal power development,” said the company’s general manager Xu Mingjun, as quoted by Bloomberg.
China has been approving new coal generation capacity at a breakneck speed since the start of last year.
The total approved to date stands at 152 GW, which Bloomberg notes is more than the total coal generation capacity in Europe currently in operation.
In the first half of this year, China approved more than 50 GW in new coal generation capacity.
This has prompted a lot of criticism from environmentalists but China has stuck to its priorities, noting that it needs coal generation in a supporting role to make up for the drops in output from wind and solar as they depend on the weather.
In fairness, Europe is also returning to coal in the absence of cheap Russian pipeline gas.
Despite the massive buildup in wind and solar capacity across much of the continent, European countries have discovered they need dispatchable generation and have found it in coal.
Germany, the flagman for the European energy transition, made headlines earlier this year when it decided to dismantle a wind farm in order to expand a coal mine.
Source: Oilprice.com
Ghana: Petrosol Supports COPEC With GHS10,000 Worth Of Fuel
PETROSOL Ghana Ltd, one of the leading Ghanaian Oil Marketing Company (OMC), has supported consumer advocacy group, Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) with fuel worth Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS10, 000) for their activities.
COPEC is an important player in the petroleum downstream sector focused on petroleum consumer rights advocacy, especially in the area of consumers receiving the right quantity and quality at the right price and in a safe environment.
Mr. Joseph Yaribil, the Head of Compliance and Supply Chain/Ag. Head of Marketing of PETROSOL, who made the presentation to COPEC on behalf of the company, indicated that as a firm believer in and advocate of consumer rights and a responsible industry player, as well as a good corporate citizen, PETROSOL is deeply committed to making a difference in the lives of Ghanaians.
Mr. Kwasi Owusu Boadu, the Technical Director of COPEC, expressed their appreciation to PETROSOL for its continuous and consistent support for the activities of COPEC.
He said the support would energise them to do more to protect the interest of consumers.
He also encouraged PETROSOL to continue with its commitment to giving consumers quality fuel in the right quantity from its neatly maintained stations across the country.
PETROSOL, which operates about 120 fuel stations across the country, is triple-ISO certified for quality, safety and environment and has won several awards for best industry practices.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: Ghana Gas Head Of Communications Grabs Award
The Head of Corporate Communications of Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC), Ernest Owusu-Bempah Bonsu, was on Friday, September 1, 2023, honoured as the ‘Corporate Communications Personality of the Year’ at the prestigious Ghana Corporate Brands Award held in Accra, Ghana’s capital.
In a post on the Facebook page of Ghana Gas and sighted by this portal, it said: “This recognition reflects his outstanding dedication to improving communication between GNGC and the public.”
According to the post, Owusu-Bempah expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the event organisers for the remarkable honour and dedicated the award to the entire management and staff of GNGC.
He encouraged everyone to keep up the fantastic work they have been doing.
The Ghana Corporate Brands Award recognises individuals and organisations who have made significant contributions to the development of their respective industries.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
According to the post, Owusu-Bempah expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the event organisers for the remarkable honour and dedicated the award to the entire management and staff of GNGC.
He encouraged everyone to keep up the fantastic work they have been doing.
The Ghana Corporate Brands Award recognises individuals and organisations who have made significant contributions to the development of their respective industries.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com Nigeria: TCN Engages Cross-Border Energy Market Participants
Nigeria’s power transmission company, TCN, the Market Operator (MO) for the West African nation, has hosted cross-border market participants to discuss energy transaction issues and challenges, as well as proffering suitable solutions towards smooth business operations on the distribution of energy exported to Togo and Benin Republic.
The meeting, which was held on Monday, 28th August 2023, had in attendance representatives from Transcorp Power, Benin Republic (SBEE), Togo (CEET), Transmission Company for SBEE and CEB, PARAS and NDPHC.
Among other issues discussed was an outstanding energy reconciliation issue between Togo and Benin Republic for the period of October 2020 to February 2021, wherein the two countries believed that the MO would reconcile them as a neutral operator.
It would be recalled that the two countries—Togo and the Benin Republic—were enjoying sovereign off-take of the power supply until 2019 when the two countries resorted to going into bilateral energy transactions because both Generators and Distributors in Nigeria had been privatised.
The MO used the opportunity of the meeting to call on the two countries to settle their legacy outstanding debt of US$1,715,786.25.
“To put the record right, the above figure is the correct outstanding debt owed to Nigeria by the two countries.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Saudi Arabia: PIF Offloads $131Million Stake In National Gas And Industrialization To Jadwa
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has signed a binding agreement to sell its 10.92 percent stake in National Gas and Industrialization Co. to Jadwa Investment Co. for SR491.19 million ($131 million), according to a bourse filing.
The transaction is set to be executed as a negotiated deal, following the Saudi Stock Exchange’s trading and membership procedures on Sept. 3, with completion expected by Sept. 5, subject to various conditions and steps.
The sale involved 8.18 million shares, with GIB Capital serving as the financial advisor to the sovereign wealth fund.
Earlier in August, ADES Holding Co., with the backing of PIF, announced its plan to go public on the Kingdom’s main stock exchange.
In a statement, the oil and gas drilling firm revealed its plans to issue 339 million ordinary shares during the public offering, resulting in a 30 percent free float after a combination of existing and newly issued shares are sold.
PIF, recognized as one of the world’s wealthiest sovereign wealth funds, continues to drive Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification endeavors as part of Vision 2030.
The fund, over the course of years, has made several strategic investments, as Saudi Arabia’s economy moves away from its dependence on oil.
Furthermore, in August, PIF-owned AviLease, an aviation financing and leasing firm, inked a definitive agreement to acquire Standard Chartered’s aircraft leasing business, which includes Dublin-based Pembroke Group.
Valued at $3.6 billion, this deal encompassed a portfolio of 100 narrow-body aircraft and granted AviLease servicing rights for an additional 22 aircraft, according to a press statement.
Source:arabnews.com