Page 9 - AfrElec Week 08 2021

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Revego Africa Energy Fund to raise

$102mn at IPO for South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA REVEGO Africa Energy Fund, an investor in programme that was once the fastest-growing in
South African renewable projects, is looking to the world stalled under former President Jacob
raise as much as ZAR1.5bn ($102mn) by April. Zuma.
The fund is backed by Investec, the Eskom Revego plans to pay dividends and wants to
Pension & Provident Fund and UK Climate see its assets generate enough income to fund
Investment, and is seeking to list on Johannes- expansion, according to Meeser.
burg’s stock exchange, according to Revego The company will target inflows from inves-
Fund Managers’ chief investment officer Michael tors seeking to do business with Black-owned
Meeser, Bloomberg reported. firms in South Africa, taking advantage of gov-
“We have already identified assets equal to ernment policies to help reverse the impact of
that value and have actually signed purchase racial segregation that ended in 1994.
agreements,” he said. “Things are picking up” in the sector, Meeser
The listing comes as South Africa starts to said. If South Africa is able to commit to longer
accept bids from independent power producers timelines and give detail on required capacity, it
(IPPs) to provide new generating capacity in the could give more visibility to international com-
country. State-owned utility Eskom struggles to panies and boost local manufacturing, he said.
meet the country’s electricity demand. Revego wants to own a wide range of renew-
The government is committed to buying an able projects to help reduce the fund’s risk. The
additional 11,800 MW of power from various company holds stakes in South African wind and
sources, President Cyril Ramaphosa said this solar power projects and is anticipating opportu-
month. nities across sub-Saharan Africa, where nations
The emergence of funds such as Revego such as Kenya and Tanzania are also investing in
indicates there is a market for realised renew- renewable energy programmes.™
able projects in South Africa, even after a state

Singapore’s B&S Power to join

200MW solar project in Nigeria

NIGERIA NIGERIA’S Sunnyfred Global has signed an supplied by hydro.
agreement with the Singaporean company B&S Access to electricity only concerns 45% of
Power Holding to finance and build a 200-MW Nigerians, who have to use generators on a daily
solar PV plant in Ashama, Delta State, in what basis. In rural areas, only 36% of the population
would be the largest solar power plant in West has access to electricity.
Africa. According to the World Bank, over 80mn
The solar photovoltaic plant will be located in Nigerians are without access to electricity and
the village of Ashama, in the locality of Aniocha. millions more suffer from poor service despite
The installation will occupy 304 hectares of land. efforts by the government to provide electricity
The commissioning of this photovoltaic in the country.
solar power plant will not only increase Nigeria’s About 60mn of these Nigerians spend more
installed capacity, but will also diversify its elec- than NGN1.6 trillion ($4.2bn) on fossil fuel gen-
tricity mix. eration yearly.
Despite being the leading economy on the The federal government hopes to improve the
African continent in terms of GDP at $443bn in situation, notably through the Nigeria Electrifi-
2020, the West African country’s installed elec- cation Project (NEP). Within the framework of
trical capacity is only 12,522 MW. this project financed by the World Bank and the
Its electricity mix is very little diversified, African Development Bank (AfDB), the govern-
with 10,142 MW produced from thermal power ment, through the Rural Electrification Agency
plants (TPPs). The remaining 2,380 MW is (REA), is now banking on solar off-grid.™

Week 08 25•February•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9