Page 14 - AfrElec Week 32 2021

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
He said the lake (water) level currently stood at 6.55 meters above the Minimum Operating Level (MOL) of 475.50 m as of Aug. 9 and translated to 30.66 BCM or 47.32 percent of usable storage of water.
“The 12 BCM increase in water allocation announced on June 25 2021 shared equally between the two power utilities, ZESCO Limited and the Zimbabwe Power Company, for their respective power generation at Kariba North Bank Power Station and Kariba South Bank Power Station will be sustained for the rest of the year 2021,” said Kabwe. “The increase has now pushed the 2021 water for power generation allocated to the power utilities at Kariba Stations from 30 bcm to now 42 bcm.”
In 2020 on the same date, the lake level was lower at 480.94 metres, 5.44 metres above the MOL, only 25.18 bcm or 38.86% of usable storage of water could be allocated for power generaton at Kariba.
SOLAR
Globeleq, Absa successfully
refinances South African
renewable plants
African IPP Globeleq and Absa Bank have completed the senior debt refinancing of three of Globeleq’s renewable power plants.
The purpose of the refinancing is to enhance the projects’ capital structures, allowing for the release of value to shareholders and the reduction of the tariff to the national utility, and ultimately consumers in South Africa.
The tariff reductions will save the national utility more than ZAR1bn across the three assets over the remaining 12-year term of the power purchase agreements.
Absa Bank acted as the mandated lead arranger and sole underwriter of the ZAR5.2bn debt financing package.
This transaction will be the second
refinancing of renewable assets under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) Refinancing Protocol. Globeleq hopes to eventually refinance the entire portfolio of assets it owns in South Africa.
Globeleq proactively engaged in June 2020 after the IPPO requested owners of the South African renewable Round 1-3.5 projects to consider participating in a voluntary refinancing programme and led the refinancing process on behalf of all its shareholders in the 138 MW Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm, 50 MW De Aar Solar and 50 MW Droogfontein Solar plants.
Mike Scholey, Globeleq CEO said: “Globeleq sees this transaction as enabling future secondary market debt, which in turn will stimulate new opportunities, jobs and contribute to the economic development of South Africa. We hope that other IPPs will look to do the same and reduce the cost of their power to Eskom.”
Absa’s Johan Koorts, Resource & Project Finance Principal said “Absa Bank has been a major supporter of the South African renewable energy programme since its inception and has to date arranged financing for c. 3 gigawatts of projects across various bid windows. This transaction strongly demonstrates Absa’s ongoing commitment to the financing of clean energy and the acceleration of investments that make a sustainable impact on the communities we serve.”
GLOBELEQ
POLICY
Ghana urged to promote private investment
Ghanaian Energy expert Kojo Poku said having private sector participation in the affairs of the Electricity Company of Ghana will help solve all its issues.
Speaking on Top Story on JoyFM, he
said that it is essential that consumers get affordable and reliable electricity thus private sector participation will ensure that some of the challenges ECG is faced with are dealt with more efficiently.
“We had a brief spell of the private sector participation through PDS, and we saw a very huge improvement in the way ECG functions, the psyche of the employees and how they respond to faults and how they deal with customers. Private sector participation will address all the issues [at ECG],” Mr Poku told Ernest Manu on Wednesday.
His comment comes after the Auditor General’s report uncovered some losses at ECG.
The Audit Report revealed that ECG lost 2,649.08 GWh, which represents 24.30%
of the power purchased from the power- producing companies. The report also noted that ECG incurred expenses to the tune of ¢182,576,235.15 as a capacity charge by Cenit Energy for the 12 months in 2018.
Again, it emerged that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), between 2014 and 2016, procured prepaid meters and conductors worth ¢59million, but the machines are still locked up in the company’s warehouse.
The Auditor-General recommended that the management of ECG ensure that the pre- payment meters and conductors are issued out to the users.
However, if they fail to do so, the amount involved should be recovered from the officers who engaged in the procurement.
Reacting to the ¢59million loss, Mr Poku stated that ECG had procured the meters only to later notice that they were not up to standard.
“In procurement processes when things
are ordered, they need to be inspected before they are even dispatched. I am a partner
of a company that order some from the Netherlands. I travelled to Rotterdam to inspect the goods before they were shipped, that is the private sector, the public sector does things differently.”
“That is why I am saying that it is something that if things are done well, the systematic problems will be checked,” the Energy expert stated.
Poku believes that taking the operations of ECG from the government and handing it over to the private sector is the way to help resolve the challenge with losses.
He explained that even though the Minister of Energy has assured private
sector participation when it comes to power distribution, it is not certain when that would take place.
JOY FM (GHANA)
P14
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Week 31 05•August•2021