Africa has been urged to take full advantage of the geothermal energy resources in the continent to fast-track the continent’s energy requirements.
The Chairman of Kenya Electricity Generation Company (KenGen), Julius Migos Ogamba, made the call at the just ended 25th Africa Energy Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.
He noted that energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness in the sector and cleanliness of geothermal energy offer Africa the unique opportunity to embrace this renewable energy to save the continent from her fast-degrading environment.
The conference, which is hosting 4,000 delegates across Africa and other parts of the world, creates the environment for participants to share their views on how to foster swift, prudent, practical and innovative suggestions in the continent’s desire to access cheap, reliable and sustainable energy for its people.
“For Kenya, this forum will provide us the opportunity to engage like-minded participants in clean energy generation, sustainable financing and innovative strategies to be employed in the sector for enhanced delivery,” Julius Migos Ogamba observed.
According to him, the platform also gives them the chance to strike investment partnerships in the sector to drive the area in Kenya particularly and Africa in general.
Concerning best governance cultural practices, the KenGen Chairman stressed that they adhere to the latest virtues in the industry and hopes to even deepen such practices to ensure that Africa’s future energy generations do not suffer from any negative environmental norms.
Africa has a huge geothermal potential, particularly in the Rift Valley, which extends from the Horn of Africa to Malawi.
The geothermal potential capacity for eastern Africa is more than 20 Gigawatts.
High geothermal power potential is located in eastern African countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. The potential for geothermal energy in East Rift System countries is estimated at over 15,000megawatts.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, Davis Chirchir said they have been able to provide over 76 per cent of the people in the East African nation with electricity and hope to increase it further by the end of this year.
He emphasised that Kenya has vast land resources and that getting access to geothermal was easy, assuring all that reliance on traditional sources of fuel and its negative impact on the environment could be further reduced if they keep to geothermal and other renewable sources of energy.
Honourable Chirchir also urged participants to share their experiences and ideas to help Africa to deal with Africa’s environmental degradation, help to make energy cheap and also leverage their resources to take solutions for energy problems facing the continent.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Independent Power Generators, Ghana, formerly Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Bulk Distributors and Consumers (CiPDiB), have reminded the government to honour their request by paying 30 per cent of the US$1.6 billion outstanding arrears to avoid a total shutdown of their power plants from July 1, 2023.
The group warned that failure on the part of the government to settle the said amount will not guarantee continued power supply to the national grid.
The group communicated this in a letter to the Minister for Finance on Thursday, stating that they are now unable to persuade their creditors, contractors and other essential stakeholders to further withhold payment and maintain operations.
“We had indicated in our letters that IPPs needed to receive an interim payment of 30% of the outstanding arrears of each IPP by 20th June 2023. Unfortunately, we have not seen any good faith indication or commitment of such impending payment from ECG/Government as of today, June 21, 2023, despite the Electricity Company of Ghana’s recent collection efforts, as reported in the media, which yielded circa ¢3.1 billion,” the group said in a letter sighted by energynewsafrica.com.
The group, which controls more than 50 per cent of the power generation in West Africa, urged the government to resolve its debt to them as soon as possible.
According to them, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) owed them around $1.4 billion as of May. Because of the debt, the IPPs lacked working cash to finance inputs such as chemicals for cleaning water for the thermal generators and other supplies, many of which were priced in foreign currency, primarily the US dollar.
They claimed they owed banks, and some had to make repayments this month but had to pay a penalty for defaulting, stating that they have been suffering in silence due to rising debts.
“We refer to our letters dated March 27, 2023, and May 25, 2023, with reference numbers IPGG/1/2023 and IPGG/2/2023 addressed to the Minister [Finance] by which the IPP Chamber stressed the urgent necessity for the government to prioritise payment of the outstanding arrears owed to members of the IPP Chamber to enable the IPPs to cover critical operational costs required to continue operations and pay overdue debt service,” the letter to the Finance Minister added.
It further urged the government, the Electricity Company of Ghana and other stakeholders to regard this reminder with the seriousness it deserves and to take the necessary actions.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Volta River Authority (VRA), the state power generation company in the Republic of Ghana, registered its presence at the just-ended 25th Africa Energy Forum hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa.
The Forum, which started on Tuesday, June 20, successfully ended on Friday, June 23, 2023.
The Authority shone at the event when its former CEO, Kweku Awotwi, was given a lifetime award for his contributions to Africa’s energy sector alongside Mr Andrews Herscowitz, former Coordinator of the US Power Africa Programme.
Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa, Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, led a four-member delegation including Chief Musa Badimsugru Adam, a board member, to represent the Authority.
This year’s Africa Energy Forum, which was hosted in Kenya for the first time in Africa, attracted more than 4,000 delegates from Africa and other parts of the world.
The Forum brought together government officials, utilities, regulators, development finance institutions, commercial banks, power developers, technology providers, engineering, procurement, construction companies (EPCs) and professional services.
During the forum, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa held meetings with officials of Synergy Consulting, an independent international Financial Advisory Services Company, and Elecnor, the contractor who executed the Solar PV farm in Kaleo and Lawra, Ghana.
Mr Antwi-Darkwa also met with officials of Kenya Electricity and Generation Company (KenGen) to discuss future partnerships.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Star Oil, one of the oil marketing companies in the Republic of Ghana has expressed its sympathies to the family of the deceased police officer who was killed in a bullion van at one of its branches at Ablekuma Fanmilk, a suburb of Accra, capital of Ghana on Thursday, June 22.
Armed robbers attacked the van a few minutes after it arrived for cash collection at the station.
Videos of the incident show members of the public rescuing the fatally shot policeman from a pick-up truck.
The police officer was only identified as Amoah according to his name tag.
A statement issued by Star Oil said, “We wish to express our sincere sympathies to the family of the deceased police officer and the Ghana Police Service”.
It assured to provide further details on the incident to the police.
“We will provide further details on this incident after subsequent consultations with the Ghana Police,” Star Oil promised in its statement.
The police service says it’s on a manhunt for the robbers.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Kenya Power, the electricity supply company in Kenya has asked Kenyans to be patient despite the increasing cost of power, stating that the country was better off than other African countries.
The Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Power, Engineer Joseph Siror, who was addressing journalists on Thursday, June 22, cited South Africa as one of the countries grappling with electricity challenges forcing its government to ration power.
Kenya Power, he underlined, was better placed to distribute electricity owing to the structural reforms undertaken at the institution.
He intimated that the company was also working towards reducing the high cost of power.
“Some countries have not handled it well, like South Africa. If you knew the kind of rationing (they are subjected to), you would appreciate where we are as a country.
“We are at a much better point when you compare us to South Africa in terms of electricity and service provision,” he added.
Siror stated that the high cost of power resulted from increased government investment in the company necessitating the recovery of the funds spent.
During the recovery period, the company was forced to increase the cost of power as one of the alternatives to generating more income and clearing its debts.
“Over the past few years, the government has ambitiously invested in the electricity centre, and the initial investment has to be recovered.
“And during this period some of those investments are still recovering. But as we go forward, most of these will have been recovered and the cost of power will also go down,” explained Siror.
At the same time, he stated that some of the projects were yet to be completed, further delaying Kenya Power’s plan to reduce power prices.
Nonetheless, Kenya Power rolled out several measures to reduce power prices.
One of the key strategies was increasing power demand, especially for higher consumers like businesses.
“The key areas I am looking at are increasing the power demand. When you look at the power demand curve within 24 hours, there are times when it is higher.
“Our work is to engage the power consumers and the SMEs to see if we can work together towards them getting more power,” he added.
The second strategy Siror noted would help reduce the cost of power was increasing operational efficiency by establishing smart grids across the country.
“We are looking at ways to increase our operations, and the aspect of the smart grid plays a very key role. That is why we are looking at solutions and initiatives that can assist us to address that,” added Siror.
Kenya Power launched the Smart Poles on June 8 to support high-speed internet connectivity, eliminate the challenges of losing signals, and ensure wider and more efficient data coverage.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
A consumer rights group in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Utilities Consumers’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, has kicked against the proposed electricity tariff hike scheduled to commence on July 1, this year, amidst the recent removal of fuel subsidies.
The group argued that the hike in electricity tariffs was not a welcome development at a time when Nigerians were still battling with the removal of the petrol subsidy and its attendant effects.
“Distribution companies should make meters available to their customers without further delay if they want them to work.
“National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should open the meter market to every qualified investor to create competition that will bring the price of the meter down and make them affordable to consumers,’’ Mr Shadrack Akinbodunse, Principal Partner for Utilities Consumers’ Rights Advocacy Initiative, said as carried by the local online portal ‘supreme magazine.news’.
“If meters are available and affordable, the Discos will gear up their readiness to accept energy from TCN and do the needful to their customers.
“But now, the reversal is the case, as consumers now pay for darkness,” he said.
Akinbodunse called on the Discos to shoulder their responsibilities to the end-users because every new installation up to transformer replacement was being done by communities without a return on their investments from the Discos.
“We have a situation where customers are being asked to purchase new meters for replacement of obsolete, faulty and burned ones, which is not good for business,” he concluded.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghanaian upstream oil and gas player, Springfield E&P, has signed a US$750 million facility with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The credit facility is expected to enable the company to invest massively in its operations.
The deal was signed by officials of the company and the bank on Tuesday at the just-ended Afreximbank 30th Annual General Meetings which took place in Accra.
Afreximbank is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade.
George Owodo, Chief Finance Officer of Springfield and Oluranti Doherty, Director of Export Development of Afreximbank, signed on behalf of their organisations.
Mr. Kevin Okyere, Chief Executive Officer of Springfield, according to a report by Joy Business, said it was a great day for African companies in building an alliance with a great African financial institution like Afreximbank.
The facility, he said, would enable his company to add more value to its oil block and was very excited about the opportunity.
According to him, the facility would tremendously impact the development of the West Cape Three Points Block ‘2’, particularly the unitisation process of the Afina-Sankofa field which is yet to be concluded.
In October 2019, the Afina-1 well made two discoveries that included gas, critical and light oil at a water depth of 1030 metres drilled to a total depth of 4085 metres.
This more than doubled Springfield’s proven oil reserves to 1.5 billion barrels and added almost one trillion cubic feet of gas to the existing discoveries.
The current undiscovered potential of the Block is estimated at over three billion barrels of oil and gas in multiple leads and prospects within multiple proven reservoir units.
Springfield is the Operator and Majority Interest Holder of West Cape Three Points Block ‘2’ with the Ghana National Petroleum Company and its exploration subsidiary, EXPLORCO holding the remaining interest.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed to supporting East African countries to accelerate structural transformation, reinforce resilience, and create more decent jobs.
This ambition is encapsulated in the Bank’s East Africa Regional Integration Strategy Paper (EA RISP) 2023-2027.
The strategy paper, approved by the Bank’s Board of Directors on 08 May, sets out two priority areas to achieve its main objective, namely: (1) Improve regional infrastructure; and (2) Support regional value chains development and trade facilitation.
Under the first priority area, the Bank will invest in cross-border electricity interconnections to strengthen connectivity and increase cross-border trade in electricity. It will also support regional solar energy development through the Desert to Power initiative as well as hydroelectric and geothermal energy to harness the region’s endowments. Strengthening the capacity of the East African Power Pool and regional electricity infrastructure initiatives such as the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program and Energy in the Great Lakes countries will also be areas of focus.
Investment in the regional electricity trade should enable East African cross-border electricity interconnections to increase from 7 to 9, and for the regional power pool to become operational. It will also support cross-regional power pools interconnectors such as the one between Eastern and Southern Africa Power Pools.
The African Development Bank will also commit financial resources to multimodal transport systems for roads, railways, air transport and inland waterways while continuing to strengthen transport management institutions’ capacity and regional corridors. Particular emphasis will be placed on the main corridors and feeder roads that link production centres to major markets and promote intra- and inter-regional connectivity.
These initiatives will help reduce transit times along strategic corridors and enhance trade within the region and under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Under the second priority area, the Bank will support the development of regional value chains, particularly agro-industry, manufacturing (textiles and clothing) and mining. The Regional Integration Strategy Paper aims to contribute to an increase in manufacturing value added in the region from 9% in 2020 to 11% in 2027 as a result of support to upstream interventions.
To ensure lasting development results under these two priority areas, the Bank’s interventions will mainstream the following cross-cutting issues: gender equality, fragility, climate change, human and institutional capacity development, and private sector development. Regarding capacity development, the will provide, among others, technical assistance to national, regional and continental institutions responsible for promoting regional trade, implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area and developing regional public goods.
Under the RISP, three main outcomes are expected: (i) reduced border crossing times in the Central Corridor from one hour in 2022 to half an hour in 2027; (i) an improvement in the score on the Logistics Performance Index for cross-border trade from 53.8% in 2018 to 60% in 2027; and (iii) an increase in the proportion of goods and services traded under the provisions of the African Continental Free Trade Area from 0% of the region’s total trade in 2022 to 5% in 2027.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), the world-renowned third-party reliability testing laboratory, has published its 2023 PV Module Reliability Scorecard, and Trina Solar has once again been recognized as a Top Performer among global PV module manufacturers for the outstanding performance of its Vertex N modules, especially the Vertex N 605W module. It is the ninth year in a row that Trina Solar has won this accolade, a feat unparalleled by any other company.
Using rigorous parameters, PVEL publishes the PV Module Reliability Scorecard every year, providing abundant data and research to the industry that helps guide its development, a role appreciated by all stakeholders.
All Trina Solar’s testing modules, including p-type modules as well as n-type, performed exceptionally well in tests such as LID+LETID and mechanical stress sequence.
Trina Solar’s Vertex N 605W module, which combines i-TOPCon Advanced technology and 210mm technology, performed best in DH and PID tests. This module is highly compatible with trackers, offering optimum flexibility in utility-scale projects in the most complex of terrains and maximizing customer value with lower LCOE.
At the SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai in May, Kevin Gibson, managing director at PVEL, presented the Top Performer award to Trina Solar.
Kevin congratulated the company on the outstanding performance of its Vertex modules, especially the Vertex N 605W, and on its appearing on the Top Performer list for the ninth year in a row.
Trina Solar was recognized as a Top Performer in almost every category in which its modules were tested.
The accolade reflects not only the quality of its modules but also the trust that customers worldwide have in them.
Trina Solar has been recognized elsewhere for its excellent product performance, technological innovation and high bankability, given a 100% bankability rating for seven years in a row by BNEF, and has been rated AAA, the highest rating, in the Module Tech Bankability Ratings report by PV-Tech.
Trina Solar, a leading global PV and smart energy total solution provider inspired by the Kyoto Protocol since its inception, has been promoting sustainability through renewable energy for the past 25 years, while pursuing its mission to make solar energy accessible to all.
Trina Solar aims to use 100% renewable energy in global manufacturing and operations by 2030 in order to contribute to the Paris Agreement’s climate objectives.
The company has expanded its sustainability efforts by implementing a variety of net-zero practices, including: net-zero operations, a net-zero value chain, and net-zero products.
Net-Zero Operations To Uphold Its Green Commitment
Trina Solar has employed a variety of carbon neutrality measures in order to meet its 2030 objective. Included in the plan are improvements to energy efficiency, net-zero industrial parks and factories, waste reduction, reuse, and recycling (3Rs), use of renewable energy, digital management of energy and carbon emissions, and development and implementation of carbon reduction technology.
Trina Solar insists on incorporating environmental responsibility into every aspect of its operations.
The company has instituted a thorough and effective ISO14001 environmental management system at all of its global plants, taking into consideration the preservation of the local ecosystem and biodiversity from the time it selects sites for its manufacturing facilities. Through an array of environmental management systems and processes, the environmental impact of the organization’s products, activities, and services is effectively minimized.
In April 2023, Trina Solar’s Yiwu plant became the first in the PV industry to be officially certified as a Zero Carbon Factory.
In addition to reflecting the company’s carbon reduction practices in technology, products, equipment, and process management over the past quarter century, this demonstrates Trina Solar’s strong commitment to sustainable development.
Trina Solar’s green operations also involve the sustainable use of natural resources, the responsible emission and recycling of waste gas, wastewater, and solid waste, and the substantial reduction of electricity consumption, water consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Trina Solar’s GHG emissions per unit of production for cell and module products decreased by 50.81% and 61.88%, respectively, in 2022, compared with those in 2020, attaining or exceeding its carbon emission reduction objectives early.
20% Lower Carbon Footprint, A Net-Zero Value Chain Co-Created With Partners
Trina Solar not only implements its own sustainable development principles, but also endeavors to convey its vision and goals to its global associates. By incorporating sustainability into all procurement and research processes, the organization is committed to working with global partners to promote a net-zero value chain and establish a green ecosystem.
Together with its partners, Trina Solar has split the carbon footprints of its modules and developed low-carbon silicon materials. Trina Solar’s 150 micron and 130 micron wafers have a 20% lower carbon footprint than conventional wafers, thanks to the company’s technical efforts to reduce wafer thickness. As a result of its exceptional performance in the green supply chain field, Trina Solar was designated a “National Green Supply Chain Management Enterprise” by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in February 2023, when the 2022 Green Manufacturing List was released.
To become a globally competitive and innovative leader in value-added supply chain services, Trina Solar will continue to foster cross-sector collaboration and implement a green supply chain to drive the transformation and upgrading of upstream and downstream entities.
Contributing To A Sustainable Future Through Net-Zero Products
The path to carbon neutrality is guided by green technology. Trina Solar is creating a green, net-zero energy future with its customers via its superior technology platforms and innovative, ultra-high power products.
In 2022, Trina Solar’s Vertex modules were awarded a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Certificate by TÜV Rheinland for their low-carbon management capabilities throughout their entire life cycle. Later that same year, TÜV Rheinland again awarded the company’s Vertex modules with a Carbon Footprint Certificate in recognition of the products’ industry-leading performance in reducing carbon footprints.
Trina Solar is also one of the first companies in the industry to initiate the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and carbon footprint certification procedures for n-type modules.
From implementing net-zero operations to developing a net-zero value chain to manufacturing net-zero products, Trina Solar is committed to reducing carbon emissions for the benefit of society at every step of the way. Moving forward, Trina Solar will continue to work with all stakeholders to protect the biosphere, support global decarbonization initiatives, and make solar energy available to people everywhere.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Kenyan President, William Ruto has urged African leaders to stop using isolated and unilateral efforts and instead come together to solve the challenging energy needs of the people.
According to him, adopting unilateralism and isolated strategies in solving the continent’s energy needs are costly especially with the advent of the Pan-African Regional Energy and cooperation and collaboration, arguing that it was of paramount interest to work as a people to maximise their collective potential in their quest to ensure sustainable energy for Africans.
The Kenyan President explained that the continent has to share its resources to enhance its energy infrastructural projects such as regional power grids and energy interconnections which would not only facilitate faster regional integration but also trigger economic growth.
“Energy makes human life safer and human activity more efficient and society better. The different ways in which societies access and utilise energy describe the contours of human productivity and equality and also define our contributions to the worsening climate crisis,” he bemoaned whille delivering a keynote address at the Africa Energy Forum in Nairobi, capital of Kenya.
H.E William Ruto, President of Kenya addressing participants at the Africa Energy Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.
For these reasons, President Ruto observed that the world now has clarity on the right, as well as the wrong ways of sourcing energy.
He, thus, asked whether Africa needs energy at all costs which would arise because it is a mandatory fact of life.
He was quick to suggest that “our energy needs should not escalate to endanger our existential concerns.”
He further tasked the continent to leverage her resources to swiftly advance her socioeconomic needs through the strengthening of her energy infrastructure connectivity to build a united Africa.
Touching on the essence of the theme for the forum, he observed that it was to share the secret which is hidden in plain sight with a broader global audience powered by African Energy.
“Sustainable energy development lies at the heart of our vision. Investing in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power are not only a responsible choice but also an equitable Africa,” he stressed.
According to him, by transitioning away from fossil fuels, the continent shall contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate change, protect the environment and secure a sustainable future for generations.
President Ruto, furthermore, argued that sustainable energy development requires a sufficient scale of production to ensure universal energy access as well as affordability.
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Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
At least 24 people have been injured, including four in critical condition, after an explosion started a fire in Paris, police said.
The blast was followed by a major fire that caused one building, housing a fashion school, to collapse, as well as an adjacent building, emergency services said.
Some 70 fire trucks and 230 firefighters were battling the blaze which was contained by the early evening. Nine doctors were also at the scene.
The fire service said there had been “an explosion” which had “caused the collapse of two buildings” on Wednesday.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
The “violent” fire which broke out after the explosion has now been “contained”, Paris police Chief Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding that “work is still taking place under the rubble” to find any more possible victims.
Prosecutors said two people were still missing following the blast.
The firefighters “prevented the spread of the fire to two adjoining buildings which were seriously destabilised by the explosion” and “were evacuated”, Nunez added.
Florence Berthout, mayor of the arrondissement, said, “The explosion was extremely violent,” describing pieces of glass still falling from buildings.
Source: Aljazeera
The UK Government is planning to remove a ban on opening new coal mines from a bill that is going through Parliament.
The ban was added to the Energy Bill by peers in the House of Lords.
Ministers also plan to drop changes to the bill which would have enabled small community energy projects to sell electricity directly to local homes.
Green MP Caroline Lucas called the decision “reckless” and said the amendments should be reinstated “immediately”.
A government spokesperson said it was made after “careful consideration” and they would continue to engage with parliamentarians.
The amendment to ban the opening of new coal mines was approved by the House of Lords in April by a majority of just three with 197 peers voting in favour of the motion and 194 against.
Introducing his amendment Liberal Democrat Lord Teverson said he had previously believed a ban was not necessary because it was “totally and absolutely obvious” that building a new coal mine “would be a really stupid thing for a country to do”.
However, he told peers he had changed his mind after the government’s decision to allow a new mine to be built in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
“If that happens once, it can happen again – that is why this amendment is so important,” he said.
Opposing the amendment, Minister Lord Callanan said the government was committed to phasing out coal but argued that an outright ban could cause a “severe weakening of our security of supply”.
Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband had said Labour would back the ban, but the government plans to remove the amendment from the bill at committee stage, where a bill is examined in detail, before it reaches a vote of the whole House of Commons.
Community projectsThe government also intends to ditch measures put in by the House of Lords which would enable small community energy projects to sell electricity directly to local consumers.
For example, a group which has installed solar panels on a school roof would be able to sell electricity directly to neighbouring homes.
Currently, projects tend to sell their energy to other, larger utilities because the cost and burdens of setting up as a supplier in their own right are too high.
More than 60 organisations – including the National Grid and the Church of England – have written to Energy Secretary Grant Shapps urging him to reconsider.
In the letter, the organisations say community energy schemes have seen “almost no growth for six years, despite renewable technologies being cheaper than ever”.
They say this is “largely due to the prohibitive costs they face in accessing local markets” and suggest the current rules are holding back the possibility of a big expansion in community schemes.
Source: BBC
QatarEnergy signed definitive agreements with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), covering the long-term supply of LNG to China and partnership in the North Field East LNG expansion project (NFE).
The two parties signed an LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the delivery of 4 million tons of LNG per annum from the NFE project to CNPC’s receiving terminals in China over a span of 27 years, marking the industry’s longest term SPA commitment.
The two parties also signed a share sale and purchase agreement, where QatarEnergy will transfer to CNPC a 5% interest in the equivalent of one NFE train with a capacity of 8 million tons per annum.
This transfer will see CNPC become a partner in the NFE project and will not affect the participating interests of any of the other shareholders in the project.
On his part, Mr. Dai Houliang, the Chairman of CNPC, said, “Our collaboration over the NFE project represents a major achievement and excellent practice of both CNPC and QatarEnergy in delivering on the strategic consensus of the leaders of our countries. It is another milestone in forming a strategic synergy between China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative and Qatar’s National Vision 2030. It lays a solid foundation for the energy cooperation between the two sides in the next three decades. From this brand-new starting point, CNPC will continue to actively discuss with QatarEnergy all-round cooperation across the hydrocarbon industry chain and other areas like green and low carbon energies, so as to build a stable, long-term, and multi-dimensional strategic partnership.”
Source: Worldoil.com
The conference, which is hosting 4,000 delegates across Africa and other parts of the world, creates the environment for participants to share their views on how to foster swift, prudent, practical and innovative suggestions in the continent’s desire to access cheap, reliable and sustainable energy for its people.
“For Kenya, this forum will provide us the opportunity to engage like-minded participants in clean energy generation, sustainable financing and innovative strategies to be employed in the sector for enhanced delivery,” Julius Migos Ogamba observed.
According to him, the platform also gives them the chance to strike investment partnerships in the sector to drive the area in Kenya particularly and Africa in general.
Concerning best governance cultural practices, the KenGen Chairman stressed that they adhere to the latest virtues in the industry and hopes to even deepen such practices to ensure that Africa’s future energy generations do not suffer from any negative environmental norms.
Africa has a huge geothermal potential, particularly in the Rift Valley, which extends from the Horn of Africa to Malawi.
The geothermal potential capacity for eastern Africa is more than 20 Gigawatts.
High geothermal power potential is located in eastern African countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. The potential for geothermal energy in East Rift System countries is estimated at over 15,000megawatts.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, Davis Chirchir said they have been able to provide over 76 per cent of the people in the East African nation with electricity and hope to increase it further by the end of this year.
He emphasised that Kenya has vast land resources and that getting access to geothermal was easy, assuring all that reliance on traditional sources of fuel and its negative impact on the environment could be further reduced if they keep to geothermal and other renewable sources of energy.
Honourable Chirchir also urged participants to share their experiences and ideas to help Africa to deal with Africa’s environmental degradation, help to make energy cheap and also leverage their resources to take solutions for energy problems facing the continent.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
This year’s Africa Energy Forum, which was hosted in Kenya for the first time in Africa, attracted more than 4,000 delegates from Africa and other parts of the world.
The Forum brought together government officials, utilities, regulators, development finance institutions, commercial banks, power developers, technology providers, engineering, procurement, construction companies (EPCs) and professional services.
During the forum, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa held meetings with officials of Synergy Consulting, an independent international Financial Advisory Services Company, and Elecnor, the contractor who executed the Solar PV farm in Kaleo and Lawra, Ghana.
Mr Antwi-Darkwa also met with officials of Kenya Electricity and Generation Company (KenGen) to discuss future partnerships.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
