Page 14 - AfrElec Week 36 2022
P. 14
AfrElec HYDROGEN AfrElec
Egypt boosts 100-MW green
hydrogen plant in Ain Sokhna
EGYPT THE Egyptian cabinet has assigned land plots in November this year and will provide the consor-
Aswan and the Gulf of Suez to increase power tium additional power from renewables to get
from solar and wind plants to feed the 100-MW the project running during the summit.
green hydrogen plant being built in Ain Sokhna, In August this year, seven regional and Euro-
according to a statement on Thursday, Septem- pean firms signed a memorandum of under-
ber 2. standing (MoU) to explore building facilities
The North African country’s first green for green hydrogen in Egypt with a combined
hydrogen plant will be built by Norway’s Scatec, capacity of 5.5mn tonnes per year (tpy).
ammonia producer Fertiglobe and Orascom Egypt also signed an MoU with the Indian
Construction. Energy Company to build a green hydrogen
The allocated lands will host a 70-MW solar facility worth $8bn in the Suez Canal Economic
plant in Aswan’s Benban and a 205-MW wind Zone. This will aim to produce 20,000 tpy of
farm in the Gulf of Suez. The construction firms green hydrogen and 100,000 tpy of green ammo-
will contract the plots from the New and Renew- nia by the year 2025, in a bid to serve different
able Energy Authority (NREA). sectors, especially the transportation sector.
Egypt will host the COP27 summit in
Uganda’s Isimba dam at risk
of bursting due to defects
KENYA EXPERTS from the Uganda Electricity Gener- UEGCL experts have since identified defec-
ation Company Ltd (UEGCL) have warned of tive concrete spill/waterways and a weak con-
major issues at the Isimba dam, whose forced crete foundation, with some engineers also
shutdown in early August was blamed on human questioning the structural integrity of the
error, the Monitor daily reports. embankment.
UEGCL, the statutory body charged with Beijing is deploying top energy and engi-
electricity generation, operates the 183MW neering experts to assess firsthand the nature
Isimba dam, which flooded after maintenance and extent of alleged defects at the Isimba dam.
works, leading authorities last month to seek Investigations have raised concerns about the
emergency electricity imports from neighbour- quality of the engineering, procurement and
ing Kenya. construction (EPC) project largely bankrolled
Experts have identified 10 major potentially by China’s Export and Import (EXIM) Bank,
catastrophic defects at the station that could according to the Monitor.
cause it to burst, leading to massive flooding, With about 40 power plants, Uganda’s total
according to the Monitor. installed generation capacity has grown from
After the August shutdown, the UEGCL, 400MW in 2000 to 1,237MW as of October
Ministry of Energy and the contractor of the 2020, 80% of which is from hydropower. Peak
Isimba dam that cost $568mn to construct, demand is about 800MW, according to the
China International Water and Electric Corpo- regulator.
ration (CIWE), traded blame for the incident.
P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 08•September•2022
