Page 13 - AfrElec Week 27

AfrElec NEWS IN BRIEF AfrElec

Energy Access Ventures (EAV) excels Power Producer (IPP) is supplying from its
in financing off-grid suppliers in Africa, Nyabira solar power plant in Mashonaland
notably Nuru which recently commissioned a West Province.
1.3MWp solar system in the city of Goma in The additional 22.5MWp will be generated WIND
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). from nine solar photovoltaic plants, each with
a capacity of 2.5MWp. Work on this project Scandal emerges over Lake
is expected to start within three months and
Burkina Faso launches be completed by October 2021. Centragrid Turkana output
will invest $30mn, despite the lack of foreign
Solar Cluster plan exchange that could hamper the development The Kenyan government paid more than
of this green energy project. The company
KES7bn ($65mn) in penalties to investors
The national renewables body of Burkina estimates that its project will reduce power behind the Lake Turkana wind power project
Faso has launched a Solar Cluster initiative to outages and the import of electricity from for electricity that was not reaching Kenyans,
establish a domestic PV industry and promote neighbouring countries such as South Africa, in what could be the latest mega scandal.
energy efficiency. which is also in crisis due to failures in the The penalties were due to the delayed
The programme introduced by ANEREE power grid of the state-owned company completion of the KES28.9bn ($268mn) ,
– the Agence Nationale des Energies Eskom. 430km high-voltage power line from the
Renouvelables et de l’Efficacite Energetique The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Lake Turkana wind turbines to Suswa sub-
– is backed by the UN’s Green Climate Fund, Authority’s (ZESA) power generation capacity station in Narok, which is the country’s main
which will help the renewables body access is about 845MW, compared to a national interchange for electricity coming from
international finance. demand of 2,200MW and an installed different sources.
Funds will be provided in part via the capacity of about 1,940MW. The contract for the construction of the
West African Development Bank, in the Most of the electricity fed into Zimbabwe’s line was awarded in 2014 to Grupo Isolux
form of loans with favourable conditions electricity grid is generated from the Kariba Corsan, a Spanish company.
for companies in the landlocked nation. hydropower plant, which the country shares It was to be completed in 2016, but it was
The Solar Cluster programme will adopt a with Zambia. not until September 2019 that President
mixed approach to financing, though, to offer Zimbabwe also imports electricity from Uhuru Kenyatta inaugurated the power
long-term financial backing for PV projects, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic line in Suswa following years of delays after
ANEREE said. of Congo (DRC). But the government of this the Spanish company got into financial
The capacity building programme will East African country is now relying on IPP difficulties.
provide networking opportunities for the projects to boost the national power grid. The wind farm, the largest in Africa, with
country’s nascent solar industry, said minister In June, state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity a capacity of 310MW, enough to power up to
of energy Bachir Ismaël Ouedraogo on Friday. Transmission and Distribution Company 1mn homes, was supposed to inject the first
The initiative is also intended to provide (ZETDC) issued a call for tenders for the 50MW into the grid in October 2016 and the
training opportunities. construction of several solar photovoltaic whole capacity by July 2017.
Fossil fuel-dependent Burkina Faso power plants to produce 500MWp. A major
wants universal access to electricity by 2025, solar project that should also help to diversify
from a current electrification rate of around Zimbabwe’s electricity mix.
20%, according to the International Finance
Corporation private sector arm of the World
Bank. The International Renewable Energy
Agency estimates the country had installed
just 62MW of solar generation capacity by the
end of 2018. However, Burkina Faso is poised
to benefit from more than XOF1 trillion
($1.72bn) in West African solar investment
by 2025, Ouedraogo said at the Solar Cluster
launch.

Zimbabwe’s Centragrid
pursues solar expansion

Zimbabwean IPP Centragrid recently said
it would increase its installed solar power
capacity in Zimbabwe by October 2021.
It plans to build new solar power plants
that will inject 25MWp into the Zimbabwean
power grid.
Centragrid announces a solar project with
a planned output of 22.5MWp. This will be in
addition to the 2.5MWp that the Independent

Week 27 09•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13