Page 10 - AfrElec Week 01 2021
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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
Roberto Sabalza, CEO for Onshore Southern procurement and turnkey construction.
Europe and Africa at Siemens Gamesa. The Assela wind project will be financed
The 100-MW wind farm will help power over by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs via
400,000 Ethiopian households; the wind farm is Danida Business Finance (DBF), adding to a
set to be commissioned by spring 2023, and will loan agreement signed between the Ethiopian
save more than 260,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation
CO2 emissions. (MoFEC) and Danske Bank.
According to a Wood Mackenzie forecast, Ethiopia has many renewable resources cov-
around 2 GW of wind power will be installed in ering wind, solar, geothermal and biomass, and
Ethiopia by 2029. the country aspires to be a power hub and the
The wind farm will be made up of 29 SG battery for the Horn of Africa.
3.4-132 wind turbines and is expected to be The country’s National Electrification Pro-
commissioned by the start of 2023. The project gramme, launched in 2017, outlines a plan to
will generate about 300,000 MWh per year. achieve universal access by 2025 with the help of
Siemens Gamesa will provide full engineering, off-grid solutions for 35% of the population.
Kenya, Eni discuss biofuel
production in Mombasa
KENYA KENYA has held talks with Italian oil major Eni African refiners have considered such a move.
on the potential conversion of its mothballed The 80,000 barrel per day (bpd) Mombasa
refinery in Mombasa to biofuel production. refinery, built in 1959, was closed down in 2013
Eni said on December 18 that its CEO Clau- as it was unable to compete with fuel imports.
dio Descalzi had talked about the project and The facility’s then-operator, India’s Essar Energy,
various other green initiatives in a meeting with blamed the government for not enforcing a deal
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. They dis- to make local suppliers buy fuel from the plant. A
cussed a multi-year plan to collect waste and $1.3bn upgrade plan aimed at making the refin-
agricultural residue, which are ideal feedstocks ery competitive had earlier been abandoned.
for biofuel production, Eni said. These raw mate- Tullow Oil had been storing crude from the
rials could be used to develop biodiesel, bio-jet South Lokichar area at the site until July this year,
fuel and bio-ethanol, the Italian firm said, in line when an early oil pilot production scheme was
with its “circular economy technologies.” ended.
The plan covers a study on converting the Eni added it had signed amendments to three
Mombasa refinery to this purpose. Doing so production-sharing contracts (PSCs) offshore
would give Kenya a leadership role in Africa’s Mombasa. The company has rights to six off-
decarbonisation drive, Eni said. shore blocks in Kenya in total. The Italian major
Faced with a collapse in fuel demand this year, struck a deal in July last year to transfer 13.75%
a number of refiners in Europe and the US have interests in blocks L-11A, L-11B and L-12 to
unveiled plans to convert their facilities to bio- Qatar Petroleum (QP), subject to approval by
fuels rather than shutting them down. But few the Kenyan authorities.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 07•January•2021
