Page 12 - AfrElec Week 33

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
senior concessional loan, will be drawn from the Dedicated Private Sector Program III, designed to provide risk-appropriate capital to nance high-impact, large-scale private sector projects in clean technologies.
Stressing the di culty rural areas have
in attracting investment for a ordable and productive electricity, Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank said the funds would contribute to economic and social growth and enhance its recipients’ resilience to the e ects of negative climate change.
“Access to a ordable and reliable energy has huge bene ts at various levels of any society. Most of the 600mn people estimated to lack access to modern energy services in Sub-Saharan Africa are also among the most vulnerable to the disastrous consequences of climate change,” he said.
FEI is expected to contribute to the installation of around 600MW of renewable energy projects across di erent African countries and avoid over 30mn tons of CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions over a period of 20 years while yielding positive gender and social outcomes.
AFDB
SA’s Kriel makes NASA’s emissions hot spot list
South African coal mining town, Kriel, has been identi ed by satellite data from US space agency NASA as having one of the highest sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the world. e only place with higher emissions is Russia’s Norilsk smelter complex, Reuters reported.
Scientists say that excessive exposure to
SO2 particles causes long-term respiratory di culties and stunted growth in infants among other problems.
Kriel is home to Eskom’s 2,850MW Kriel Power Station, a short distance from two other coal- red plants – Matla and Kendel – as well as Sasol’s coal-to-liquid plants.
e town is part of a 31,000 square km area that covers three provinces and houses 12 coal power stations. It was declared a high-priority zone by the government in 2007 because of dangerously high pollution.
South Africa is Africa’s worst polluter and one of the world’s top 10 coal producers, with an estimated 3.5% of the world’s coal resources, according to the International Energy Agency.
Environmental and community groups sued the government in June for failing to tackle high pollution in the Highveld Priority Area. e groups want the court to force
the government to implement an air quality management plan that was published by the environmental a airs minister in 2012.
Eskom, which provides 90% of the country’s power, relies on a eet of aging coal- red plants and is struggling to meet its emissions target.
e only place with worse individual SO2 emissions is Russia’s Norilsk, 300km inside the Arctic Circle.
Egypt switches on 130MW of solar projects
Two major new solar projects in Egypt with a 130MW ofpeak capacity have begun commercial operations.
e photovoltaic plants are based at Benban, Kom Osbo in Egypt’s Aswan
province, 830 kilometres south of Cairo and will produce enough energy to power 140,000 homes.
ey have been developed, nanced, built and are owned by a joint venture between Egypt’s Elsewedy Electric and EDF Renewables - the renewable energy arm of French utilities giant Electricite de France (EDF).
It has a 25-year o ake agreement
with the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, with the project being commissioned under the second round of the Egyptian government’s Renewable Energies Feed in Tari programme created to encourage the development of solar and wind projects in the country.
e bulk, $111mn), of the nancing for the project came from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and from French development bank Proparco.
“Having those two projects reaching commercial operation successfully today extends the IPPs [independent power projects] portfolio under Elsewedy Electric to include solar photovoltaic in addition to our existing wind and hydro IPPs,” Elsewedy Electric’s president and chief executive, Ahmed Elsewedy said.
Egypt’s Feed In Tari programme began in October 2014 with an initial goal of commissioning renewables projects capable of generating up to 4,300MW of power - 2,300MW through solar projects and the remaining 2,000MW through wind. Round 2 was launched in September 2016 and saw 30 projects capable of generating 2GW of power receive funding.
Egypt has an eventual target of generating 20% of its power from renewable sources by 2022, and 42% by 2035.
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Week 33 21•August•2019