Page 8 - AfrElec Week 36

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
POLICY
Egypt starts digitalisation
of energy grid: Electricity
minister
e Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker, said a new plan
is underway to develop a smart energy grid that supports the digital transformation strategy adopted by the government, with some Chinese companies already applying to engage in the development plan of the sector.
e Chinese proposals include innovative solutions in the elds of communications and information technology to build a strong, exible, and safe electricity grid, Shaker said.
e ministry adopted a uni ed digital system in collecting electricity bills, upon the recommendation of the National Council for Payments to digitalise all public services. 415 payment collection centres a liated to the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company(EEHC) have already been automated, according to Shaker.
Hence, electricity bill payment will be available through all banking outlets, whether
branches or ATMs, and Internet banking. Egyptian Electricity Transmission
Company (EETC) has contracted Siemens to supply the rst digital power transformer to the Egyptian market, Shaker said. It
is expected to promote reliability and operational e ciency of the energy transferred from the Kafr El-Sheikh and Zagazig 500/220 KV transformer substations in the Delta region, which is seeing growing energy demand.
e electricity sector is currently working on improving and developing transmission and distribution networks, including high- voltage transformer stations and control centres. Enhancing the national electricity grid is necessary to absorb the newly added capacities from renewable energy projects, reduce the electricity loss in the grid, and boost electrical interconnection with neighbouring countries.
e electricity sector is implementing reform policies to launch the digital transformation process of energy, achieve security and sustainability of electricity, and increase energy e ciency., the minister said. e new policies would also pave the way for the private sector to invest in various elds of traditional and renewable energy and smart
networks, and enhance transparency and governance of the sector.
e digital transformation is one of
the most prominent les put forward by
the government with the aim of providing outstanding services in the simplest and cost- e ective methods anytime and anywhere to all institutions and citizens. is can be possible through the development of a secured integrated digital system at the national level, and stimulating foreign investment in digital industries.
INVESTMENT
Ethiopia largest recipient of FDI in eastern Africa
Ethiopia beat all other eastern African countries last year as the largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to a new report authored by nancial consulting rm EY.
e EY Attractiveness Survey 2019 released this week shows Ethiopia attracted foreign investment worth 26.8 trillion shillings last year.
Kenya closely followed Shs7.68 trillion while Tanzania attracted foreign investments of Shs3.8 trillion in the same period.
e report did not document foreign direct investment gures for Rwanda and Uganda.
However, data from Bank of Uganda indicates that Uganda, in 2018, received about Shs2.9 trillion in foreign direct investment.
In Ethiopia, according to the EY report the Shs26.8 trillion foreign direct investment resulted into creations of 16,000 jobs from 29 projects while about 6,000 jobs were created in Kenya from 64 unnamed projects.
In Tanzania 3,000 jobs were created from 19 projects.
Experts said yesterday Ethiopia is attracting higher foreign in ows compared to its regional peers thanks to an “e cient” business environment and the lure of a huge untapped domestic market.
“Ethiopia has a ordable electricity supply and is served by an e cient airline,” said Mr Francis Kamau, a tax partner at audit and consultancy EY East Africa.
“It also has a huge domestic market with guaranteed access to external markets through its well served Special Economic Zones.”
Kenya’s FDI attraction is helped by its status as the region’s nancial centre, and a hub for many multinationals doing business in the region.
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Week 36 11•September•2019