Page 9 - AfrElec Week 49

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
STRIKES
Nigeria’s electricity workers suspend strike
Nigeria’s electricity workers have suspended a strike that threw swathes of the country into darkness for a little more than 24 hours.
“Dear customer, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has suspended its strike. Our offices and payment channels are open for business. Thank you for your patience and understanding,” the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco) said on Twitter on December 12.
After a 21-day ultimatum, electricity workers in Nigeria finally downed tools
on December 11, citing unpaid severance allowances, salaries and pensions owed 50,000 former employees of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) before the country privatised its power sector in 2013.
The strike began midnight on Tuesday following expiration of the 21-day notice issued by the workers.
Employees of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Osogbo, the Osun State capital, said they had shut down the facility in compliance with the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) directive.
The facility in Osogbo hosts the National Control Centre (NCC). The NCC in Osogbo is responsible for all Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN’s) grid operations, monitoring and control of the transmission network.
GRID
AfDB to lend £270mn for
Moroccan power
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is to lend Morocco $270mn for to fund a series of electricity infrastructure projects.
The loan will help increase rural electrification, improve the transit capacity
of interconnected grid, and ensure safety and efficiency of power supply, the AfDB said in a statement.
“This is a strategic programme for Morocco, and an operation of prime importance for the Bank,” said Mohamed El Azizi, AfDB General Manager for the North Africa Region.
“Developing an electricity transmission network that will be more reliable will enable Morocco to meet energy demand, which has increased by 5 percent over the last decade,” he added.
The statement said the bank had financed 18 investment programmes in the Moroccan energy sector with a total worth of more than $1.65bn.
AfDB fund Shango substation in Rwanda
The African Development Bank, the
German Embassy in Rwanda and the KfW Development Bank have inaugurated the high voltage 188 MVA Shango power substation in Kigali and its related transmission network.
The substation is part of the NELSAP Regional Interconnection Project involving Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, DRC and Burundi.
The Rwandan component, at an estimated cost of EUR111.03mn ($123mn), involves the construction of 286 km of 220 kV lines, three substations and the upgrade of two substations.
The African Development Fund, part
of the African Development Bank Group, contributed EUR38mn ($42mn) of the total
project cost.
The energisation of the Shango substation
and related network will facilitate the country’s access to excess power of nearly 1,040MW from the regional market, reducing reliance on expensive fossil-fuel generated power.
Rwanda is pursuing an ambitious target to achieve affordable, reliable and universal access to electricity by 2024 in line with the National Strategy for Transformation.
The Bank’s support to the energy sector has more than doubled over the past three years to the current level of EUR410.66mn ($455mn), supporting seven public sector operations (of which three are regional projects) and one private sector operation.
COAL
Senegal cancels Bargny coal project
The President of Senegal Macky Sall announced the cancellation of the Bargny coal-fired plant, in line with the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
This announcement has been welcomed by local communities and activists in Senegal who for over five years have strongly opposed and actively campaigned against this coal power plant while pushing the government to invest in renewable energy.
The cancellation of the coal project comes after a series of technical failures, financial difficulties and conflicts between shareholders which had paralysed the project in the last four months, halting the importation of
coal and causing the dismissal of project workers. Recently, also the Tidianes General caliph added his voice as a well respected religious leader in the country to those of the communities and activists who have been
Week 49 12•December•2019
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P9