Page 10 - AfrElec Week 20 2022

AfrElec ENERGY TRANSITION AfrElec

Guterres calls for jump-start

for energy transition

GLOBAL UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has knowledge, investments and discoveries — not
called for a five-point plan “to jump start the just give them away, AP reported.
renewable energy transition,” ahead of the Guterres also said he wanted to broaden
COP27 summit in Egypt in November. access to supply chains and raw materials that
Speaking as the World Meteorological go into renewable technologies, which are now
Organisation said this week that the last seven concentrated in a few powerful countries.
years have been the hottest on record, Guterres He also called on governments to reform
stressed that time was running out and that “to ways that can promote renewable energies, such
keep 1.5 alive and prevent the worst impacts as by fast-tracking solar and wind projects.
of the climate crisis, the world must act in this He urged a shift away from government sub-
decade.” sidies for fossil fuels that now total a half-trillion
The WMO+ warned that the impact of dollars per year.
extreme weather had led to deaths and disease, “While people suffer from high prices at the
migration, and economic losses in the hundreds pump, the oil and gas industry is raking in bil-
of billions of dollars. lions from a distorted market,” Guterres said.
In the six-month run-to COP27, Guterres “This scandal must stop.”
called for fostering technology transfer and lift- Finally, Guterres says private and public
ing of intellectual property protections in renew- investments in renewable energy must triple
able technologies, like battery storage. to at least $4 trillion per year. He noted that
Such ambitions – as with his call for transfers government subsidies for fossil fuels are today
of technologies aimed to fight COVID-19 – can more than three times higher than those for
cause innovators and their financial backers to renewables.™
bristle: They want to reap the benefits of their

Octopus Energy joins Xlinks in

$21.9bn Morocco-UK cable project

MOROCCO OCTOPUS Energy Group of the UK has part- in Morocco and be connected exclusively to the
nered with the subsea cable manufacturer Xlinks UK along a shallow-water route from Morocco
on the construction of the world’s longest subsea to the UK, passing Spain, Portugal, and France.
cable to deliver renewable energy from Morocco The project comes under UK’s energy secu-
to the island nation. rity strategy, which aims to lower its dependence
According to Xlinks, once operational, the on Russian gas imports, preserve the climate and
$21.9bn project will be capable of supplying 8% reduce consumer prices. It should be finalized
of Great Britain’s electricity needs at £48/MWh by 2027.
for 25 years under the current Contract for Dif- Octopus will help Xlinks extend the cables
ference (CfD) mechanism. with a length of 3,800 km using 90,000 tonnes
“This partnership presents an enormous of steel. The UK company said the project will
opportunity to bring down energy bills signifi- guarantee the provision of low-emission energy
cantly and help the UK achieve net zero,” Xlinks while using steel from domestic suppliers.
chief executive Simon Morrish said. “The invest- The power link will supply 3.6 GW of reliable,
ment demonstrates the ambition of both Xlinks clean power to the UK. It will secure power for
and Octopus to deliver a cheaper, greener future nearly 7mn UK homes by 2023 and also bene-
for the UK public.” fit the Moroccan economy by creating nearly
The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project will 10,000 jobs.™
stretch over an area of 1,500 square kilometres

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 20 19•May•2022