Page 9 - AfrElec Week 37

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
POLICY
Zambia set to import
300MW from S.Africa,
prices could double
Zambia is in talks with South African power utility Eskom to import 300MW of electricity, Energy Minister Mathew Nkhuwa said, adding that retail prices could double once imports begin.
Zambia has a power deficit of more
than 750MW because of low water levels at hydropower dams, Nkhuwa told reporters on the sidelines of an energy meeting. He gave no timeframe for when imports could start.
“(Retail prices) will be maybe double the amount because we are paying half the amount that we are supposed to pay for electricity,” Nkhuwa said.
Zambia, which has been rationing power after a severe drought hit its hydropower sector, has historically priced electricity below the cost of production via subsidies. Only in recent years has the country started gradually to raise prices.
In 2017, Zambia’s energy regulator approved a 75% price hike for electricity retail consumers and introduced a flat $0.093 per kWh tariff for mining companies.
Nkhuwa said the government also planned to send a delegation to Mozambique to negotiate a new power-purchase agreement.
Zambia cut its economic growth forecast to around 2% for 2019, from an estimated 4%, due to the impact of the drought on its power supply and agricultural production.
Eskom sought advisers to
help implement government
bailout
Eskom, the state-owned South African power utility with about $30bn of debt, sought advisers on how to implement a government bailout seven months after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the company would be reorganized, Bloomberg reported.
Eskom issued an invitation to tender for “financial services for implementation for government support package” on August 23, Bloomberg said.
The tender, which closed on September
3, requires that the team provide its record
in “providing holistic solutions to restore the viability of companies in financial distress for transaction values in excess of $1bn.”
Eskom, which supplies about 95% of South Africa’s power, has been granted ZAR128bn ($8.7bn) in state bailouts over the next three years to remain solvent. The government has proposed splitting the utility into generation, transmission and distribution units and is evaluating a range of options to reduce the costs of the debt and improve its performance.
The company must be able to mobilize
a team to start the work within a week of the award of the contract, according to
the document. Bidders must also provide relevant experience advising in South Africa and internationally on debt management transactions, sovereign debt exchanges
and liquidity management exercises for transactions over $1bn, it said.
The yield on Eskom’s dollar bonds due January 2021 fell 31 basis points to 5.61% on September 16
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to release a policy paper on Eskom later this month.
HYDRO
Egypt, Ethiopia still argue over giant GERD
Egypt said talks to resolve a conflict over a giant Nile River dam being built by Ethiopia had failed to achieve progress between the two
countries.
A statement from the Egyptian Ministry
of Irrigation said that two-day negotiations that also included Sudan did not touch
on “technical aspects” of the $5bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Egypt fears the project will significantly reduce its share of the water from the Nile
- the river provides almost all of Egypt’s freshwater. Ethiopia, on the other hand, says the GERD will not have any effect on Egypt’s share of water and claims the project is necessary for its economic development.
The Egyptian ministry said that Ethiopia’s delegation refused to discuss a proposal on filling and operating what will be Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam.
The statement urged Ethiopia to engage in “serious technical negotiations” at September 30-October 1 talks in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.The dam also promises economic benefits for Sudan.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Ethiopia had “summarily rejected” Ethiopia’s plan
for key aspects of operating the dam and dismissed Ethiopia’s proposal as “unfair and inequitable”.
It pointed to key differences over
the annual flow of water that should be guaranteed to Egypt and how to manage flows during droughts.
A spokesperson at Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Nebiat Getachew, said on Monday the meeting had so far produced no agreements or disagreements and gave no immediate response to the Egyptian claims.
Week 37 18•September•2019
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