Page 9 - AfrElec Week 27

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec
One pioneering aspect of the Garob wind farm is that concrete towers will be built on-site at Garob, instead of pre-fabricated steel towers, improving local employment during the con- struction phase.
In the REIPPPP’s fourth round, Enel Green Power won a total of ve wind projects with 700 MW of capacity.
As well as the Nxuba and Oyster Bay in the Eastern Cape, Enel Green Power was awarded the Karusa and Soetwater wind farms, both with 140MW, in the Northern Cape.
Enel Green Power is already one of South
Africa’s leading IPPs and has 520 MW of wind and solar plants across the country.
It operates the 10MW Upington and the 82.5MW Adams solar projects in the North- ern Cape, the 82.5MW Pulida solar project in Free State Province, the 66MW Tom Burke project in Limpopo Province and the 82.5MW Paleishuewel project in the Western Cape. It also operates the 88MW Nojoli and 111MW Gibson Bay wind farms in the Eastern Cape.
Enel Green Power now operates 43GW of wind, solar, geothermal and hydro capacity across the globe.™
GRID
Schneider Electric, develop minigrids in Nigeria
Schneider Electric and Nigeria’s EM-ONE Energy Solutions are to create a nationwide system of minigrids built and operated by community stakeholders.
EM-ONE already holds a contract to build 30 minigrids at hospitals in the Nigerian state of Kaduna.
It aims to do the same for universities and contribute to the African nation’s rural electri cation programme.
Schneider is helping optimise the architecture of the projects, develop an industrial platform to integrate the minigrids
NEWS IN BRIEF
into containers in Nigeria and manufacture Schneider Electric minigrid solutions under licence, said Paul-François Cattier, Schneider Electric’s vice president, business development, Africa & Middle East.
e Nigerian government aims to have 1,000 minigrids up and running by 2023 via a $2bn investment initiative.
Schneider and EM-ONE have been working with public and private-sector organizations to create a minigrid industry ecosystem in Nigeria for 18 months.
More broadly, Schneider has installed 700 minigrids in Africa via its Access to Energy programme over the past 10 years, mainly for rural electri cation.
e minigrids planned by the Schneider- EM-ONE project group will range from 500kW to 20MW
Africa’s electri cation needs are enormous,
not only in rural areas but also for companies who would like their own reliable electricity grid, such as banks, food and beverage manufacturers and data centres.
Just 45% of Nigeria’s population has access to electricity, a statistic that drops to 36% in rural areas.
An estimated 200,000 minigrids installed across Africa could power the continent and reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 to ensure access to a ordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, according to Schneider and EM-ONE.
With a population of more than 200 million, electricity grids are up and running in just one of Nigeria’s 36 states, according to Schneider.
Week 27 10•July•2019
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