Page 9 - AfrElec Week 38 2022

AfrElec GRID AfrElec

Solarcentury set to sell

on Southern African

Power Pool by 2023

AFRICA SOLARCENTURY Africa, the UK’s largest solar amount is exceeded, there can also be a debt
company, -, according to The Africa Report. component, he noted. However, De Carteret
Jason De Carteret, head of Solarcentury’s BB notes that it’s harder for funders to take a view of
Energy unit, said the firm aims to commission the potential of SAPP compared with a standard
at least one of the two projects it is developing offtake agreement. Still, he says, there’s “no bot-
in Namibia and Botswana by December 2023, tleneck” on funding for current projects.
with trading on the Southern Africa Power Pool Rather than trading through SAPP, Solarcen-
(SAPP) following immediately. tury could supply power to a national utility in a
A decision on which entity will carry out the host country. Namibia, which does not currently
SAPP trading has yet to be taken, but Mark Sims, allow power to be imported, could be an option.
who worked for 35 years at South African utility While a free market would be a step forward,
Eskom and has served on SAPP sub-commit- transmission infrastructure across the region is
tees, has been picked to head the power trad- the bigger barrier, de Carteret noted.
ing desk, to be based in the region, The Africa In addition to its in-construction projects in
Report writes. Getting market participant access Namibia and Botswana, Solarcentury is involved,
to SAPP will be a “very significant step,” Sims together with Renewable Energy Services Africa
noted. and Checunda Investimentos, in the building of
“We’re confident we can take on the market a 100MW solar plant in Mozambique. The plan
risk,” he added. “We think we have a headstart.” is to feed the electricity into the state-owned
The SAPP was created in August 1995 and Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) grid.
is headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capi- Solarcentury is also setting up a hybrid pro-
tal city. It has 12 member countries represented ject comprising an 11.25 MWp solar PV plant
by 18 electric power utilities and independent and an 8.5 MW/MWh battery energy storage
producers. system at Balama graphite mine owned by Syrah
De Carteret indicated that Solarcentury is Resources of Australia in Mozambique.™
open to new funding. Projects costing less than
$50mn tend to be equity financed. Once that

Week 38 22•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9