Page 7 - AfrElec Week 37

AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec
SDC consortium wins Nigeria LNG contract
NIGERIA
NIGERIA LNG indicated last week that it had taken a step toward making a final investment decision (FID) on plans for the construction of a seventh production train at the Bonny Island gas liquefaction plant.
Specifically, it revealed that it had chosen an international consortium known as SCD for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work on Train 7.
In social media postings, Nigeria LNG said it had signed a letter of intent (LoI) with the group, whose members include Saipem (Italy), Chiyoda (Japan) and Daewoo Engineering & Construc- tion (South Korea). It explained that it had done so after naming SCD as the winner of an interna- tional tender for the EPC contract.
Nigeria LNG has declined to reveal the value of the deal under discussion with the con- sortium, citing a confidentiality clause in the EPC contract. According to the Korea Herald, though, industry sources say the project is worth around $5bn.
Meanwhile, Tony Attah, the company’s man- aging director, said that he expected the con- struction of Train 7 to bring more than $10bn
worth of foreign direct investment (FDI), includ- ing the upstream end of the LNG value chain, into Nigeria. The project will also lead to the cre- ation of around 10,000 new jobs while pushing Nigeria LNG’s production capacity up by 35%, he added.
The Bonny gas liquefaction plant is currently capable of turning out 22mn tonnes per year of LNG. Once Train 7 comes on stream, its produc- tion will rise by 8mn tpy to 30mn tpy.
Shareholders in Nigeria LNG – Eni (Italy), Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), Royal Dutch Shell (UK-Netherlands) and Total (France) – said last week that they expected to make the FID on the Train 7 project by the end of October. Once this milestone is reached, they noted, SCD will be able to start work and wrap up construction of the new production train in four to five years.
The Nigerian federal government has voiced its support for Nigeria LNG’s choice of an EPC contractor. The Permanent Secretary of the country’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources said last week that it backed plans for “speedy imple- mentation” of the deal.™
RENEWABLES
ACWA makes record Ethiopian solar bid
ETHIOPIA
SAUDI Arabia’s ACWA Power is to develop 250 MW of solar capacity in Ethiopia after making a record low bid of $0.02526 per kWh in the first round of the country’s’ Scaling Solar programme.
The Public-Private Partnerships Directo- rate-General (PPP-DG) chose ACWA Power’s bid to build the 125-MW Gad solar project and the 125-MW Dicheto project in what is welcome news for Ethiopia’s drive to develop renewables energy.
The tariff is the lowest ever for a solar project in Africa, defeating bids from four other groups. The country’s PPP-DG said in a statement that it had received a total of five bids for the competitive tender. The $300mn public venture (PV) contract is to be developed on the pub-
lic-private partnership model.
The projects form the first part of the World
Bank-supported Scaling Solar initiative, where the multilateral development (MDB) provides both financial and administrative support to raise finance from private sources.
Ethiopia is currently preparing a second bid round supported by Scaling Solar and aims to
tender out 750 MW of capacity.
These include six projects at Weranso, Wel-
encheti, Humera, Mekelle, Metema/Bahir Dar and Hurso.
The most recent deadline was July 9, put back from May 29, for pre-qualification. Qual- ified investors will next be invited to take part in a request for proposals (RfP) round to submit their financial bids.
Saudi-based ACWA Power is currently devel- oping 54 power and desalinisation projects in 11 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Only 41% of Ethiopians currently have access to reliable electricity supplies, while the country has 3,000 MW of generating capacity, of which 70% is hydro.
The Scaling solar project aims to deliver 1,000 MW of solar capacity in the country. Solar power will help diversify Ethiopia’s energy mix and allow it to manage its water resources more effectively.
The country offers irradiation levels of up to 1,500-2,000 kWh per square metre.™
Week 37 18•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7