Page 10 - AfrElec Week 28

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
NUCLEAR
Kenya takes first nuclear steps
e Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria and
Lake Turkana have been identi ed as top contenders for hosting the rst nuclear power plant that Kenya plans to build in the next 8-10 years.
e Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA) said it has contracted China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) determine the most suitable location in an ambitious two-year Site Characterisation study.
NuPEA put the consultation cost at KES50mn ($481,000)
e National Assembly’s Energy committee on Tuesday heard that the exercise is expected to cost taxpayers KES1.5bn ($14mn).
“Currently, we have zeroed in at the coast along the Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana as the most ideal sites. We have excluded the Ri Valley because we need enough water to cool the plant,” Mr Collins Juma, the NuPEA chief executive said.
Even as the agency plans to set up the nuclear power plant with a 1,000MW capacity by 2027, the Energy ministry has always argued that the country should only turn to atomic power when it has fully exploited other sources of energy.
Hydropower accounts for 35% of Kenya’s electricity generation, with the rest coming from geothermal, wind and diesel powered plants, the ministry said.
EMISSIONS
South Africa argues over carbon tax
South Africa’s new carbon tax has provoked
a storm of criticism from environmental campaigners who say it is too weak - and from industry that predicts it will cause mass job losses.
e new tax, the rst of its type in Africa, was cautiously introduced in June in the rst of several gradual steps and is scheduled to come into full force in three years’ time.
e tax has been planned for almost a decade. But it was delayed in a country that is struggling to boost economic growth while also being the 14th largest polluter in the world, according to Greenpeace.
Canada, France, Colombia and Sweden all have carbon taxes, with the World Bank
saying a total of 46 countries now have such levies or similar schemes in place or scheduled for implementation.
e tax puts a price on releasing greenhouse gases from fuel combustion and industrial processes as countries work to meet the global climate change targets negotiated in Paris in 2015.
In South Africa, environmental groups such as the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) hailed the new tax as “a signi cant rst step”, but said it was far too weak at its present level.
Set at ZAR120 rand ($8.6) per tonne of carbon dioxide, the tax will be largely o set by allowances to lower it to an e ective rate of between six and 48 rand per tonne in the rst three years.
at is far below the US$40 to US$80 cost per tonne the Carbon Market Watch non- pro t group says is necessary to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
EMISSIONS
Ghana signs landmark deal
with World Bank to cut
carbon emissions
Ghanahas become the third country to sign a landmark agreement with the World Bank that rewards community e orts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Ghana’s ve-year Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund, which is administered by the
World Bank, unlocks performance-based payments of up to $50mn for carbon emission reductions from the forest and land use sectors.
Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also signed ERPAs over the past ten months, with other Carbon Fund countries expected to sign similar agreements in the next year.
In Ghana, forest degradation and deforestation are driven primarily by cocoa farm expansion, coupled with logging and a recent increase in illegal mining.
Working in close partnership with the Forestry Commission, Cocoa Board, and private sector, Ghana’s programme with the FCPF Carbon Fund seeks to reduce carbon emissions through the promotion of climate- smart cocoa production.
“ e programme’s two central goals -- reducing carbon emissions in the forestry sector and producing truly sustainable, climate-smart cocoa beans -- make it unique in Africa and the rst of its kind in the
cocoa and forest sectors worldwide. is programme is helping to secure the future
of Ghana’s forests while enhancing income and livelihood opportunities for farmers and forest-dependent communities,” says Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Chief Executive of Ghana’s Forestry Commission.
In Ghana’s ERPA, the FCPF Carbon Fund commits to making initial results-based payments for reductions of 10 million tons of CO2 emissions (up to $50mn). Ghana’s ERPA also speci es on carbon emission baselines, price per ton of avoided CO2 emissions, and a bene t-sharing mechanism that has been prepared based on extensive consultations with local stakeholders and civil society organizations throughout the country.
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Week 28 17•July•2019