Page 15 - AfrElec Week 12 2021

AfrElec NEWS IN BRIEF AfrElec

through an open, highly regulated and The company said most areas within Accra international partners,” said the firm.
transparent bid process determined by the East, Winneba, Techiman and Sunyani were About 77.3% or Sh51.02bn of the
DMRE. affected by the dawn incident. commercial loans are dollar-denominated,
The ideal solutions for this bid were hybrid In a statement, it said the power outage was making the level of repayment costs
renewable options and Liquified Natural Gas reported by the Ghana Gas Company which susceptible to currency fluctuations.
(LNG) to Power proposals, due to the nature said there was a compressor fault upstream, The firm’s main commercial lenders
of the bid and the needs of the South African leading to the loss of 750 megawatts of power include Standard Chartered Bank, Rand
population. The KPSA bid offers low-cost at about 1 am. Merchant Bank, Equity, Stanbic Bank and
electricity generation, supported by a clean ” At 1:02 am on Wednesday, March 24, Agence Francaise de Development.
thermal energy solution using LNG, said the 2021, a compressor fault upstream, reported Its total debts as at end of last June stood
company in a statement. by the Ghana Gas Company, led to the loss at Sh118.73bn, made up of Sh65.96bn
KPSA has committed to a comprehensive of 750MW of power from some generating commercial debt and Sh53.26bn on-lent debt.
Economic Development Plan that will provide plants; specifically, Karpowership and VRA’s The on-lent debts, tapped from institutions
socio-economic uplift to local communities Aboadze units,” GRIDCo’s statement said. like International Development Agency
where it operates through job creation, skills GRIDCo said the fault was rectified (IDA), China Exim Bank and Japan
development and local supplier procurement. before 7 am the same day and power has Development Bank, are guaranteed by the
The company said: “Karpowership SA consequently been restored to all the affected State and therefore payable to the government.
will benefit from the global alliance of its areas. Kenya Power successfully petitioned the
parents with well-established and reputable government to grant moratorium for payment
brands such as Shell as our exclusive LNG of principal and interest on State on-lend
supplier, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) loans amounting to Sh5.7bn until July 2021.
from Japan, a world leader in LNG shipping DEBT “This will enable the company to meet its
industry, KPSA can assure a smooth transition operational obligations until the situation
to efficient and reliable electricity in South Kenya explores new terms returns to normalcy,” said Kenya Power.
Africa at the most competitive cost.”
for Kenya Power debt

The State is reviewing Kenya Power’s GOVERNANCE
POWER CUTS Sh65.96bn commercial debt by retiring
expensive ones through international partners Vestas, EDP Renewables,
Ghana’s GRIDCo blames to lift the utility firm from liquidity crunch. Schneider Electric join
Kenya Power’s latest disclosures shows that
technical fault for power government sees this as a way of saving the RES4Africa Foundation
company from high loan servicing costs that
cut have contributed to the dimmed fortunes of Vestas, EDP Renewables and Schneider
the electricity distribution monopoly.
The Ghana Grid Company says a technical “The government of Kenya is reviewing Electric have become members of the
fault upstream is responsible for the outage Kenya Power’s existing commercial facilities RES4Africa Foundation, which has been
experienced in some parts of the country on with objective to retire expensive ones involved in the promotion of green energy in
Wednesday, March 24. through engagement on favourable terms with Africa since 2012.

Week 12 25•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15