Ghana’s largest power distribution company, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has been awarded as the best company in the energy sector for contributing immensely to the growth and development of Ghana.
The award was conferred on the power distribution company by The Business Executives, organisers of the Ghana Development Awards.
The Awards ceremony, which took place in Accra, capital of Ghana, was under the theme: ‘Intensifying The Implementation of SDGs for Ghana’s Socio-Economic Recovery Amidst Coronavirus’.
The awards aim at identifying and publicly recognising individuals and both public institutions and private enterprises that have contributed to Ghana’s socio-economic development in pivotal ways, as well as foreign institutions that have proved to be exemplary development partners.
Per the assessment of the organisers, the strategies put in place by ECG to address the challenges of covid-19 worked effectively. And this, to the organisers, ensured the stable supply of power during the lockdown in some parts of the country and after.
The organisers noted that ECG activated all the covid-19 protocols and ensured that its offices were opened to attend to customers, despite running a weekly shift system in its entire operational areas as part of effort to ensure social distancing at the work place.
The organisers also noted that, ECG’s performance, prior to the emergence of Covid-19 and during the pandemic, had improved significantly translating into a huge jump in revenue mobilisation.
Similarly, the organisers honoured the Managing Director of ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, for his exceptional leadership that has resulted in efficiency in the management of the power distribution company.
The organisers noted that under his leadership, ECG deployed some innovations including the internal development of ECG Power App which enables electricity consumers to buy credit using their Smart Meters at the comfort of their homes.
They also cited the replacement of non-Smart Meters to Smart Meters in ECG’s operations.
They also took into consideration how Mr. Agyeman-Budu ensured that there was smooth integration of restructured ECG staff and Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana staff without any agitations.
Additionally, the organisers noted that he used his good office, lobbying skills and transparent leadership to ensure that government settles its indebtedness to the ECG to the extent that Government now has a credit balance with the company.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Italian oil and gas player Eni has made a new gas discovery in the Great Nooros Area, located in the Abu Madi West Development Lease, in the conventional waters of the Nile Delta, offshore Egypt.
Eni is the operator of the Block located in the Mediterranean Sea and BP is a contractor member.
Announcing the new discovery on Wednesday, Eni said that it was achieved through the Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well.
The well is located in 16 meters of water depth, 5 km from the coast and 4 km north from the Nooros field, discovered in July 2015.
According to Eni, the Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well discovered gas-bearing sands for a total thickness of 100 meters, of which 50 meters within the Pliocene sands of the Kafr-El-Sheik formations and 50 meters within the Messinian age sandstone of the Abu Madi formations, both levels with good petrophysical properties.
In the Abu Madi formations a new level, which was not yet encountered in the Nooros field, has been crossed proving the high potential of the Great Nooros Area and the further extension of the gas potential to the North of the field.
The preliminary evaluation of the well results, considering the extension of the reservoir towards the north and the dynamic behaviour of the field, together with the recent discoveries performed in the area, indicates that the Great Nooros Area gas in place can be estimated in excess of 4 Tcf.
Eni, together with its partner BP, in coordination with the Egyptian Petroleum Sector, will begin screening the development options of this new discovery benefitting of the synergies with the area’s existing infrastructures.
Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 75 per cent stake in the license of Abu Madi West Development Lease, while BP holds the remaining 25 per cent stake.
The operator is Petrobel, an equal joint venture between IEOC and the state company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).
The new discovery is located in 22 meters of water depth, 11 km from the coast and 12 km North-West from the Nooros field and about 1 km west of the Baltim South West field, both already in production.
The discovery of Bashrush further extends to the west the gas potential of the Abu Madi formation reservoirs discovered and produced from the Great Nooros Area.
Source:www.energynewafrica.com
Solar hybrid system supplier Mada Green Power has started construction work on a 17 MW solar hybrid power plant in Andranotakatra, in the Mahajanga district of Madagascar.
The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2021.
The hybrid system, ordered by the Malagasy government, will have a capacity of 17 MW. It will be located in Andranotakatra, in the Mahajanga district of Madagascar.
“The solar-hybrid plant will be interconnected with the grid of Jirama, the national water and electricity company, and will produce hybrid electricity, improving the country’s production and reducing the cost of electricity in Mahajanga,” says Maurille Mananjara, regional director of Jirama in Boeny.
Earthworks and fencing have already been carried out on the 42-hectare construction site.
The development of Andranotakatra’s hybrid solar power plant will take place in three stages. In the first stage, Mada Green Power will install a 1.2 MW hybrid system that will be operational within two months.
The second phase will provide an additional 10.8 MW to Madagascar’s electricity grid by March 2021. The last phase will produce 5 MW before the end of 2021.
The Express de Madagascar reported that Mada Green Power, Canadian, Malagasy and Mauritian investors are the main backers of the Andranotakatra hybrid solar power plant project.
The installation should improve the rate of access to electricity in Madagascar.
The authorities indicate that barely 15% of the population has access to electricity, including 5% in rural areas.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Government of Burkina Faso has launched the construction of two 30 MWp photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants as part of its World Bank-supported Power Sector Support Project (Pasel).
The installations will be located in the cities of Koudougou and Kaya.
The government of Burkina Faso is stepping up initiatives to increase the country’s electricity production.
At the beginning of September 2020, the National Electricity Company of Burkina Faso (Sonabel) launched a call for tenders for the construction of four 9 MWp photovoltaic solar power plants.
This time, the government of the West African country plans to equip the towns of Koudougou and Kaya with two 30 MWp solar photovoltaic power plants.
The works were launched on September 10th, 2020 by the Burkinabe Minister of Energy, Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo.
The cities of Koudougou, in the province of Boulkiemdé and Kaya, in the province of Sanmatenga will have solar power stations of 20 MWp and 10 MWp respectively. The Burkinabe Ministry of Energy indicates that the construction of these installations will cost 41 billion CFA francs (more than 62.5 million euros).
According to the same source, the work in progress is part of the Electricity Sector Support Project (Pasel), financed by the Burkinabe government with a World Bank loan.
In addition to the construction of the solar power plants, the Burkinabe government plans to strengthen three inter-urban links through electricity distribution stations.
According to Sonabel, a 225 kV transmission line will be built between the city of Pâ and the city of Diébougou, over a distance of about 83 km.
A second 225 kV transmission line will be built to link the town of Ziniaré and Kaya, over a distance of 60 km.
The final 90 kV transmission line will link Wona and Dédougou, over a distance of 60 km.
The total length of the transmission lines to be built is approximately 203 km.
Sonabel explains that, once the work is completed, the various facilities will make it possible to inject 48.86 GWh into its electricity network, thereby reducing the electricity needs of Burkinabe citizens by 2.5%.
The construction contract for the photovoltaic solar power plants was won by Engie.
The transmission lines and associated substations will be built by Engie’s subsidiary Ineo Energy & Systems and five other companies, including Mohan Energy Corporation Pvt. and Unitech Power Transmission. Ltd, Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA) CO., Shandong Taikai Power Engineering CO. and the consortium IMPSDI (Inner Mongolia Electric Power Survey & Design Institute Co.) – Kesec, the Engineering Society of Kenya.
“The latter have between 12 and 14 months to complete the work,” says Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, the Burkinabe Minister of Energy.
Oil consumption in India will stop rising in five years, BP has said in its influential annual energy outlook.
The oil and gas firm also predicted that the global demand for the commodity may never return to pre-Covid levels.
India’s oil demand is expected to start plateauing in 2025 after rising to 6 million barrels per day (mbd) from 5 mbd in 2018 under BP’s two scenarios named the ‘Rapid’ and ‘Net Zero’.
By 2050, the demand is forecast to contract to 5 mbd and 2 mbd, respectively under the two scenarios.
Under the third scenario, called the ‘Business-as-Usual’, Indian oil demand is forecast to continue to rise from 6 mbd in 2025 to 10 mbd in 2050. In all three scenarios, India stays the third-biggest oil consumer in 2025 and 2050, behind the US and China, as it is now.
Global oil consumption is forecast to fall to 94 mbd by 2025 under both ‘rapid’ and ‘net zero’ courses from 97 mbd in 2018. By 2050, the demand is predicted to contract to 47 mbd under ‘Rapid’ and 24 mbd under ‘Net Zero’. Under ‘Business-as-Usual’, the demand would be 98 mbd by 2025 and fall to 89 mbd by 2050.
Three scenarios have been built assuming varying levels of government policy measures for meeting climate targets. The ‘Rapid’ scenario assumes policies resulting in a sharp increase in carbon prices while the ‘Net Zero’ reinforces ‘Rapid’ with major shifts in societal behaviour.
“The demand for liquid fuels in ‘Rapid’ and ‘Net Zero’ never fully recovers from the fall caused by Covid-19, implying that oil demand peaked in 2019 in both scenarios,” BP said in its energy outlook. “The falling demand is concentrated in the developed world and China, with consumption in India, Other Asia and Africa broadly flat over the Outlook as a whole in ‘Rapid’”.
The expected decline in demand would also hurt refinery runs and companies’ plans to set up new refineries. “Refinery runs in ‘Rapid’ never fully recover to pre-Covid levels and fall by more than 45 mbd to less than half of their 2018 levels by 2050,” BP said in its outlook.
Under ‘Business-as-Usual’, refining runs are forecast to recover to close to pre-Covid levels over the next few years and remain there until the early 2030s.
“The excess refining capacity that emerges in both ‘Business-as-Usual’ and ‘Rapid’ leads to increasing competition and the eventual shutdown of the least competitive refineries,” the outlook said.
The refining capacity that will likely be the most resilient would be those that are aided by strong domestic demand, access to advantaged feedstock, high levels of upgrading, integration with petrochemicals and, in some regions, government support, as per the outlook.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Private sector participation in the energy sector, small-scale hydro and mini-grid opportunities, desalination as an option to secure water security and helping SSMEs with a toolkit are just some of the highlights of the Digital African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa agenda in November.
The programme forms part of the upcoming ‘Digital Energy Festival for Africa’ which unites African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa, Africa Energy Forum and the Oil & Gas Council’s Africa Assembly under one banner, offering an unprecedented five-week tour de force of quality content and engagement on the continent’s largest, all-encompassing digital energy platform.
The ‘Digital Energy Festival’ takes place from 20 October to 26 November 2020. The digital platform will allow attendees to access content and networking offerings across all three market-leading events with one point of entry, making it the largest ever energy event for the African continent marketed to a combined energy database of over 200,000.
Post-pandemic impact on energy sector
Amidst the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the energy sector in Africa, the organisers of the ‘Digital Energy Festival’ seek to address critical issues such as pivoting to digital, new financial models and innovative power generation sources to allow attendees to make decisions and formulate recovery plans.
“It is inspiring to be part of such a unique joint venture with two other leading players in the energy events sector,” says Chanelle Hingston, Power & Energy Group Director at Clarion Events Africa, the organisers of the award-winning African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition for the last 20 years. “Each one of us as event organisers has a strong team with a different and distinctive focus on the many-faceted energy sector. For example, we are well known for always gathering world-class experts for our water-focused discussions as part of our event.”
She adds: “Since the start of the pandemic we have had to postpone our live event twice but, along with our partners and customers, we have fully embraced the digital tools available to us to keep the conversation going. As we proclaimed recently: “The show will go on,” and being part of the ‘Digital Energy Festival’ is a continuation of celebrating and supporting our continent’s power and energy professionals, projects and pioneers. We look forward to engaging with our long-standing partners online again and also welcoming new faces to our platform.”
Topic and speaker highlights of Digital African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa programme include:
Tuesday, 24 November, 2020:
• Opening Keynote Address: Private sector participation in the African power sector
• Host ministerial address: Fireside discussion with Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, South Africa
• Host utility address: Fireside discussion with André de Ruyter, Group Chief Executive, Eskom, South Africa
• Small scale hydro opportunities in East Africa
Wednesday, 25 November, 2020:
• Building resilient incomes to ensure sustainable business models
• Decentralised desalination versus a centralised water system
Thursday, 26 November, 2020:
• Utility guide for pivoting to digital
• How do you start a career or decide areas to upskill during this period of flux?
The programme is available on the event website: https://www.african-utility-week.com/digital/virtual-programme
The full programme for the ‘Digital Energy Festival for Africa’ will be available on 24 September.
Multi-award-winning events
The next live, in person edition of African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa will take place from 11-13 May 2021 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Clarion Events Africa is a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, energy and mining sectors. Other well-known events include the Utility CEO Forums, Future Energy East Africa, Future Energy Nigeria, Nigeria Mining Week, Africa Mining Forum and DRC Mining Week.
Clarion Events Africa is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group’s Clarion Energy Series, which runs over 40 events that cover the oil, gas, power and energy sectors, making it one of the group’s largest portfolios.
African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa dates and location:
‘Digital Energy Festival for Africa’: 20 October-26 November 2020
Digital conference and matchmaking: 24-26 November 2020
Venue: Online Live, in-person conference and exhibition: 11-13 May 2021
Venue: CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa
Website: https://www.african-utility-week.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfricaUtilities
Linkedin: African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa
Media contact:
Senior Communications Manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone: +27 21 700 3558
Email: [email protected]
The United Nations Development Programme has released a roadmap to unlock the potential of Sudan’s renewable energy and expand energy access.
The roadmap, entitled ‘Empowering Sudan: Renewable energy addressing poverty and development’, was developed through a series of consultations organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
This was in response to a request by the government of the Republic of Sudan for technical support to identify and fast-track sustainable energy initiatives and investments.
Energy use in Sudan is growing rapidly. Traditional biomass provides most of the population’s energy use, especially for people in the countryside. Ironically, electricity use is growing at about 13% annually, despite only 47% of the country’s rural population currently being connected to the national grid, according to the International Energy Agency.
Sudan is challenged by high electricity subsidy levels and climate changed induced droughts reducing their hydroelectric generation negatively by 4% every year. Thus improving access to modern and affordable energy is a development need for the northeast African country.
The roadmap report was launched digitally by Sudan’s acting Minister of Energy and Mining, Khairy Abdelrahman Ahmed, alongside youth climate activist and journalist Lina Yassin, Sudan general director of renewable and alternative energy Yasir Saeed Abdalla and sector leaders.
Khairy Abdelrahman Ahmed explained energy plays a central role in poverty reduction, women empowerment, sustainable development and public health: “The time is right to move from pilot projects to a full scale-up of these technologies. We look forward to working with international partners, the private sector and others to achieve Sudan’s renewable energy future.”
With 60% of Sudan’s total population lacking access to electricity, findings highlighted in the report include shining a light on the high potential for wind energy in the Northern State, River Nile and Red Sea plus Sudan’s high level of solar irradiance, which offers opportunities to mitigate the threat of climate change.
A policy suggestion made in the report is the development of a National Solar Fund to serve as a mechanism to pool funds from national banks, federal and state-level government, the UNDP and international donors to ensure low-cost solar technology loan are commercially available. Another suggestion is to improve energy-related data held by government agencies to allow for better decision-making about energy resources.
UNDP Sudan resident representative, Dr Selva Ramachandran, explained Sudan faces many development challenges because of their high electricity subsidy level, the negative impact of climate change on their hydroelectric capacity, fossil fuel shortages and, more recently, the impact of the COVID-19.
“Renewable energy and further steps towards expanded use are critical to unlocking Sudan’s development potential, particularly in agriculture, tackling poverty and gender inequality and empowering a new Sudan. Steps like a National Solar Fund are a concrete way to achieve this,” she explained.
The report focuses on three broad strategic themes and is framed against a background of the strong linkages between energy, poverty and gender in Sudan. It points out “the lack of access to energy services is both a cause and outcome of poverty.
“As a cause of poverty, the lack of access to energy means that income generation potential is severely limited for poor households; as an outcome of poverty, the lack of access to energy means that poor households are unable to afford goods and services that others enjoy.
“Moreover, the relationships between energy and poverty have distinct gender overtones as poor women, many in female-headed households, spend much more time than their male counterparts on energy-related activities such as firewood gathering, water fetching and cooking.”
The report suggests 69 specific recommendations to provide renewable energy services for sustainable development, focused across three themes and nine strategic areas. The three themes are:
• Increase access to sustainable energy services for poverty reduction and empowerment of women;
• Accelerate structural transformation of the energy sector as a means of sustainable development; and
• Promote energy service as a key enable for building resilience and sustainable recovery to all forms of development shocks.
Source:Esi-Africa
Work on the Bui Power Authority’s (BPA) solar power park in the Savannah Region in the Republic of Ghana has reached an advanced stage.
The 50MW solar power park, which is situated on 200 acres of land (equivalent of 151 football pitch), is in two phases.
The first phase, which is 10MW, is expected to be completed in September 2020.
Upon completion, it will be the largest solar power project being executed in the West African nation.
When energynewsafrica.com visited the site, work had progressed with workers busily working.
Speaking in an interview with energynewsafrica.com, Peter Acheampong, who is the Project Manager at the Bui Power Authority, said the project is in two phases, adding that the first phase is 10MW while the second phase is 40MW.
“Currently, we’re almost done with the first phase. What is left is with the installation of the panels and its accessories. And for the second phase, we have done about 69 percent,” he said.
The project started in February 2020 and according to him, they are far ahead of schedule.
The first phase is expected to be completed in September while the second phase will be completed in December.
Mr. Acheampong told energynewsafrica.com that the authority is positioning itself to be the renewable energy leader in the country.
To achieve this vision, Mr. Acheampong said the Bui Power Authority has, since 2015, done a lot of programmes and policies to be able to achieve it.
“We have expanded our existing switch yard to accommodate the injection of 250MW from the solar plant. What we want to do is to come up with a hybrid system where the solar will complement the hydro. Normally for solar generation, there is what is called variability, that is, you can only have the sun from the morning to 6pm. In the evenings, you can’t generate, so normally, for you to be able to generate 24 hours, you need to have battery storage. So our development programme is having hybridization with the hydro. We will use the hydro as our storage so that during the day, when we have enough sunshine, the solar plants will be running and then in the evening the hydro plants will kick in to give that reserve,” he explained.
As part of implementing the local content policy, Mr. Acheampong said the authority gave employment to about 300 local people comprising labourers, welders, steel benders, carpenters, operators of dozers and electricians.
Explaining the vision of the Bui Power Authority to energynewsafrica.com, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fred Oware said the authority has planned to construct a solar park with a capacity of 250 megawatts.
Fred Oware, Chief Executive Officer of Bui Power Authority (BPA)
He explained that apart from the 50MW solar park, which is currently ongoing, they are also constructing 1MW floating solar park on the reservoir of the Bui Dam.
Mr. Oware said the 1 MW floating solar park, is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, adding that the authority intends to scale it up to 5 megawatts.
He said the authority has also identified some areas in the North and is planning to undertake solar projects including wind power project by next year.
The Director of Renewable and Alternative Energies at the Ministry of Energy, Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo, who led a team from the Ministry to tour the facility, said the visit was upon a request by BPA to pay a working visit to assess the facility and advise it where necessary.
Mr. Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo (in green African print). With him are Peter Acheampong (left) and Dr. Robert Sogbadzi (right)
He told energynewsafrica.com that the team was impressed by the level of progress made so far.
He commended the Bui Power Authority for giving Ghana value for money by using quality materials for the project.
“The metals for the project are pure galvanized ones, even though Bui is far from the sea. Therefore, one would not anticipate that there would be too much rust. This, notwithstanding, they have used the top quality materials which are good for the country,” he noted.
Mr. Ahiataku-Togobo noted that the project formed part of the government’s efforts toward increasing the penetration of renewable energy (RE) by 10 percent by 2030 as outlined in the Paris Agreement of Ghana’s Intended National Determine Contribution (INDC).
“We are making a lot of efforts to add more renewables to our system. Today, in terms of grid connected, we have only up to about 42.5MW. There are a number of projects in line to include this to take us up to about 126 MW before the end of the year. The successful completion of the project will play a significant role in achieving the government’s target for 2020.”
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
OPEC revised down by another 400,000 bpd its forecast for global oil demand this year, expecting consumption to shrink by 9.5 million bpd over 2019, cutting forecasts for the second month in a row as risks with the pandemic and economic activity remains skewed to the downside.
In its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) published on Monday, OPEC said that it expects global oil demand to average 90.2 million bpd this year, down by 9.5 million bpd compared to 2019.
In last month’s report, OPEC expected the world’s oil demand to drop by 9.1 million bpd in 2020, which was also a larger demand loss than the cartel had previously expected.
However, in the latest report, the cartel said that “risks remain elevated and skewed to the downside, particularly in relation to the development of COVID-19 infection cases and potential vaccines. Furthermore, the speed of recovery in economic activities and oil demand growth potential in Other Asian countries, including India, remain uncertain.”
OPEC also lowered its demand outlook for next year by 400,000 bpd, expecting global oil demand to rise by 6.6 million bpd from this year’s levels. This means that OPEC does not expect oil demand to return to pre-crisis levels next year.
As OPEC turns 60 on Monday, the cartel says it is ready to meet the challenges of the next 60 years and ensure a balanced and stable oil market.
Sixty years after Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela founded the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on September 14, 1960, OPEC vows to continue playing a major role on the global oil market, as it remains “focused on a balanced and stable oil market, in the interests of both producers and consumers, as most recently exhibited through the Declaration of Cooperation and the historic production adjustments of 2020.”
“What is clear is that what was set in motion has stood the test of time; OPEC still has the same core objectives, of order and stability in global oil markets, but its role has also broadened considerably, in terms of deeper cooperation with other producers, dialogue with a host of industry stakeholders, and an embrace of human concerns such as sustainable development, the environment and energy poverty eradication,” OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said in a statement.
OPEC and a dozen non-OPEC producers led by Russia are currently withholding 7.7 million bpd of combined crude oil production from the market, hoping to rebalance supply and demand after demand crashed in the pandemic earlier this year.
The cartel has succeeded in stabilizing oil prices at around $40 a barrel for a few months, but the faltering demand recovery continues to keep oil prices much lower than all OPEC members need to balance their budgets.
At the same time, OPEC+ is easing its production cuts and has yet to (if ever) bring all participating producers into perfect compliance with their quotas.
This increased supply and uncertain demand recovery are now tipping the market into oversupply, as the weak physical markets and widening contango structure in the oil futures market suggest.
Apart from the short-term challenge to rebalance the oil market, OPEC faces an existential conundrum of how relevant it would be at a time when the pandemic and the push towards low-carbon energy might have significantly accelerated the timeline of peak oil demand.
Source: Oilprice.com
GE Renewable Energy has announced that it has been selected by EDF RE and Mitsui & Co to supply equipment for the 87MW Taza wind farm in Morocco.
Twenty-seven of GE’s 3.2-85 onshore wind turbines will be installed near Taza, in the North of the country.
The project is part of Morocco’s energy strategy, which has a goal of producing 52% of its installed electric power from renewable energies by 2030.
The Taza wind farm is expected to start operations at the beginning of 2022, powering the equivalent of 350,000 homes and saving up to 200,000 tons of CO2.
GE Renewable Energy noted that this project adds to its 200MW that it has already built at the Akhfenir wind farm in Morocco, which has been in operation since 2014.
Manar al-Moneef, GE Renewable Energy’s Onshore Wind regional leader for MENAT, said: “Morocco, which has a great potential for wind energy and has been an early mover in the journey toward renewable energy integration, has achieved great progress toward its renewable energy targets. We are thrilled to be partnering with EDF and Mitsui & Co., Ltd and to reinforce our position in the country.”
EDF Renewables and Mitsui & Co respectively represent 60% and 40% of the private investment in the project.
On 2 September, the consortium concluded a financing agreement with the project financing banks, including Japan Bank for International Cooperation, several commercial banks (for which loan insurance is planned to be partially provided by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance), and a local bank in Morocco.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria’s Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed says the Dangote Refinery, which is expected to start operation next year, may not significantly result in the reduction of petrol price in the West African nation.
She explained that the refinery will be selling at the international price because it is located at the Export Processing Zone in Lagos State.
According to Punchng.com, Zainab Ahmed, who was speaking on NTA’s ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme on Monday, said the only thing Nigeria would not need to pay is shipping cost.
“What we are doing is enabling the petroleum sector to actually grow. There have been a number of refineries that have been licensed for several years, but none of them was willing to start refining under the regime that we had were fuel was controlled.
“The Dangote refinery is sitting within an Export Processing Zone, so they are insulated from that. When we buy fuel from Dangote, we will be buying fuel at the international market price. The only savings that we will be making is the savings of freight which is shipping.
“But we will still have landing cost; labour cost and the marketers will still have to put a margin. These refineries being those that are supposed to have come to operate can now come in because they are assured that when they produce, they can sell at market rate and recover their investments and make some reasonable profits,” she explained.
She said the deregulation of the sector, which led to the increase in petrol price, was good for the economy as it would encourage investments in refineries.
“It will mean more refineries will open, employ people and fuel will be available in different parts of the country and not just relying on the government refineries.
“Those refineries are old and even if we turn them around, we will not be able to operate them at optimal capacity, so while the NNPC is trying to rehabilitate them, we also need to encourage the private sector refineries to come on stream and even state governments that have the capacity,” she added.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Nigeria’s power sector is receiving a boost as consortium of foreign investors has announced plans to invest US$5 billion in renewable energy projects across the country.
The country’s Minister for Power, Saleh Mamman dropped the hint in a tweet after the consortium presented its proposal to him.
According to him, the investors pitched a proposal to build a thousand-megawatt (MW) hybrid solar power project within 24 months, and partner in grid infrastructure development.
The renewable energy project is expected to expand the country’s electricity supply industry.
“A consortium of Western investors, interested in investing upwards of $5 billion in the Nigerian power sector, with a major focus on the renewable energy sector, just finished pitching their proposal to the Hon. Minister for Power, Sale Mamman, at the Power House,” the tweet read.
“The main partner, Mr Ron Verraneault, led the presentation to the Hon Minister while his other partners linked in via zoom. They also intend to deliver 1000MW capacity of hybrid solar power within 24 months and partner in grid infrastructure development across Nigeria.
“The Hon Minister was joined by his Special Advisor on Policy, Mr Abba Aliyu, his Technical Advisor on Strategic Coordination, Dr Nurain Hassan Ibrahim, the Deputy Director, Renewable Energy at the Ministry, Engr. Abubakar, and his TA on ICT and Digital Comms Engr Abba.”
At present, Nigeria has an installed generation capacity of 12,954MW while the available generation capacity is 7,652MW.
The transmission wheeling capacity is put at 8,100MW. However, due to constraints, the TCN cannot wheel more than 6,000MW, as an overload might lead to system collapse since the power distribution companies (DisC0s) do not have the capacity to take more than 5,000MW.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
A man has been electrocuted for attempting to steal part of the cables connecting the streetlights along the stretch of the harbour road at Tema Community ‘4’ in the Republic of Ghana.
The lifeless body of the suspect was found hanging on the control panel (Marshalling Kiosk) of the streetlights on Monday dawn by residents in the area.
Dressed in a batik T-shirt over a blue pair of trousers and holding aa polythene bag containing some tools, the suspect, who was yet to be identified by the police, was said to have been seen a night before the incident, roaming around the vicinity.
Police have since conveyed the body of the deceased to the morgue, while investigations continue.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, has stepped up repair works on its Tafo to Akwatia transmission line, which traverses the thick parts of the Atiwa Forest in the Eastern part of the West African nation.
The F2Q line, as it is called, is crucial to the stability of the Transmission system.
However, it has in recent times been experiencing faults, leading to brief and intermittent power outages in some parts of the country.
Having located the fault in the thick of the forest, Line Maintenance workers at GRIDCo are in the middle of completing the construction of a 14-Kilometer access road in order to transport materials and other equipment to the site and resolve the fault.
The Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Ing. Jonathan Amoako-Baah made an emergency visit to Atiwa last Thursday, September 10, 2020 to inspect the progress of the works.
He was accompanied by GRIDCo Directors responsible for Southern Network Services, Engineering Planning and Human Resources.
Commenting afterwards, Mr. Amoako-Baah said: “Great progress is being made to permanently repair the fault in order to strengthen the transmission system and resolve the intermittent outages we have been experiencing these past weeks. I am encouraged by the dedication and resilience of our staff and the external vendors, who are working round the clock to get this done. Navigating the Atiwa Forest is a real challenge but we have put measures in place to expedite action on the project in order to ensure consistent and uninterrupted power supply in the country.”
Some parts of the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Eastern and Northern regions, have been experiencing brief outages in the past two weeks due to the situation.
Apart from the instability on the F2Q line, the activities of some galamsey operators and the disruption to some of the lines by heavy duty trucks, are all contributory factors.
GRIDCo says it is committed to resolving the challenges and restoring stability to the national grid.
Source: GRIDCo
The organisers noted that ECG activated all the covid-19 protocols and ensured that its offices were opened to attend to customers, despite running a weekly shift system in its entire operational areas as part of effort to ensure social distancing at the work place.
The organisers also noted that, ECG’s performance, prior to the emergence of Covid-19 and during the pandemic, had improved significantly translating into a huge jump in revenue mobilisation.
Similarly, the organisers honoured the Managing Director of ECG, Kwame Agyeman-Budu, for his exceptional leadership that has resulted in efficiency in the management of the power distribution company.
The organisers noted that under his leadership, ECG deployed some innovations including the internal development of ECG Power App which enables electricity consumers to buy credit using their Smart Meters at the comfort of their homes.
They also cited the replacement of non-Smart Meters to Smart Meters in ECG’s operations.
They also took into consideration how Mr. Agyeman-Budu ensured that there was smooth integration of restructured ECG staff and Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana staff without any agitations.
Additionally, the organisers noted that he used his good office, lobbying skills and transparent leadership to ensure that government settles its indebtedness to the ECG to the extent that Government now has a credit balance with the company.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The first phase is expected to be completed in September while the second phase will be completed in December.
Mr. Acheampong told energynewsafrica.com that the authority is positioning itself to be the renewable energy leader in the country.
To achieve this vision, Mr. Acheampong said the Bui Power Authority has, since 2015, done a lot of programmes and policies to be able to achieve it.
“We have expanded our existing switch yard to accommodate the injection of 250MW from the solar plant. What we want to do is to come up with a hybrid system where the solar will complement the hydro. Normally for solar generation, there is what is called variability, that is, you can only have the sun from the morning to 6pm. In the evenings, you can’t generate, so normally, for you to be able to generate 24 hours, you need to have battery storage. So our development programme is having hybridization with the hydro. We will use the hydro as our storage so that during the day, when we have enough sunshine, the solar plants will be running and then in the evening the hydro plants will kick in to give that reserve,” he explained.
As part of implementing the local content policy, Mr. Acheampong said the authority gave employment to about 300 local people comprising labourers, welders, steel benders, carpenters, operators of dozers and electricians.
Explaining the vision of the Bui Power Authority to energynewsafrica.com, its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fred Oware said the authority has planned to construct a solar park with a capacity of 250 megawatts.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
