Page 11 - AfrElec Week 20

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
Zimbabwe launches 500-MW solar tender
ZIMBABWE
ZIMBABWE is to invite bids to install 500 MW of solar capacity at a number of sites across the country as the government banks on renewables to meet demand and reduce widespread power cuts.
Power cuts have risen to up to 18 hours per day in some areas, as the country faces a perfect storm of lower water levels at the Kariba South Hydropower Plant (HPP), breakdowns and out- ages at the Hwange coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP) and a lack of investment in grid maintenance.
“The Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Co. (ZETDC) is intending to contract 500 MW of PV solar plants of varying capacities at differ- ent identified strategic locations,” the country’s power utility stated in a notice.
Solar power would reduce power cuts, or load-shedding as it is known in southern Africa, during the daytime by “deploying properly sized solar plants at identified priority load centres”, ZETDC said.
Solar also offers cheaper grid connection infrastructure and shorter project lead times, ZETDC said.
More solar output would reduce reliance on the country’s large thermal and hydro plants, which post a threat to the climate, and also cut imports from South Africa.
Zimbabwe has seen little energy investment in recent years, apart from China, as the country has difficulty in accessing international funding. The country has also fallen behind in paying for imports from South Africa and Mozambique.
In March, Harare launched the National
Renewable Energy Policy and the Biofuels Pol- icy of Zimbabwe, hoping to attract investment.
The policy grants all renewable energy pro- jects National Project Status. They have tax holidays of 5% for the initial five years and 15% thereafter. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) requirements for projects of 5 MW and less have been relaxed.
Licensing timelines for solar projects are cur- rently six months, which has frustrated many investors. The new policy aims to reduce this, but gives no specific indications on the shortened licensing period.
The Zimbabwean government has also reformed a number of energy regulations, for example by allowing net metering, where solar power users can feed excess energy back into the grid.
Earlier in 2020, Zimbabwe paid off arrears to South African utility Eskom. This could see Zimbabwe accessing daily supplies of up to 400 MW. However, Zimbabwe remains in arrears to Mozambique’s HCB.
Zimbabwe’s national grid supplies just 989 MW at present, figures from state-owned Zim- babwe Power Co. (ZPC) show.
Hydro output at Kariba South was 594 MW, well below its installed capacity of 1,050 MW, while Hwange was only producing 381 MW.
Many of the country’s large mining compa- nies, which are large users of electricity and often face unstable grid supplies, are looking at solar. Zimplats, RioZim and Caledonia have set out plans to invest in on-site solar plants to provide off-grid electricity.™
POLICY
Nigerian power minister sacks TCN MD
The Minister of Power, Engr Sale Mamman has sacked the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed, and replaced him with Sule Abdulaziz, in an acting capacity.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Special Adviser Media & Communications to the Minister, Aaron Artimas.
Artimas also disclosed that the minister confirmed the appointment of four directors, who have been on acting position in the company for some time. The Directors are Executive Director, Transmission Services Provider, Victor Adewunmi; Executive Director, Independent Systems Operator,
NEWS IN BRIEF
M ‘J Lawal; Executive Director, Finance & Accounts, Ahmed Isa-Dutse, and Executive Directors, Human Resources & Corporate Service, Justin Dodo.
He said, “All the changes and appointments have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Earlier in May 2020, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) summoned TCN and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for a meeting after the duo has traded allegations on faulty networks. On one hand, TCN accused the AEDC of refusing to take energy from its substations during a downpour, calling for more investments on AEDC’s ‘poor’ networks, on the other AEDC, which admitted that it didn’t uptake power from the TCN, accused the transmission firm of lacking inadequate system protection that has often caused more trouble for the DisCo.
Ghanaian government clears debt owed to ECG
The Ghanaian Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu says the government has cleared the GHC2.63bn legacy debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, he said, as at December last year, the government had paid the full amount of electricity bills and currently had a credit balance of GHC500mn with the power distributor.
In order to remain current on bills expected to be paid by the government since assuming power, he said an annual payment of GHC2bn was made to the ECG from 2017.
“As of December 2016, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) left office, the bill owed ECG by the government at that time
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