Page 11 - AfrElec Week 50

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NEWS IN BRIEF
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line to the site, 112km of access roads and camp facilities.
Upon completion, the hydro-power project is expected displace up to 90% of the country’s thermal energy generation capacity. Furthermore, it will help expand Madagascar’s energy mix with more renewable energy sources. It will also help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
AfDB Energy Financial Solutions,
Policy and Regulation acting director Aida Ngom said: “The project, which supports Madagascar’s ongoing reforms in the energy sector, is expected to reduce the share of thermal power generation in the country’s energy mix and significantly reduce electricity tariffs.
R E N E W A B L E S
AfDB to support solar-hydro hybrid in Burundi
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, a multi-donor fund managed by the African Development Bank, has granted just shy of $1mn for the development of a 9MW solar- hydro hybrid project in Burundi.
The $990,000 project is being developed by national hydroelectric developer Songa Energy and private investment firm Virunga Power. It will supply power to state-owned electric utility Redigeso.
It comprises two plants, each featuring a solar and hydroelectricity component, as well as establishing a local distribution network and an interconnection to the national grid.
The funding will support technical feasibility, environmental and social impact studies and financial advisory.
The AfDB expects the project duo to supply electricity to more than 20,000 households and benefit women and small and medium-sized enterprises in particular.
Electricity infrastructure in the landlocked sub-Saharan nation is in poor state following 13 years of civil war between 1993 and 2005 and political and civil uprest in 2015. Only 9.3% of the 10.9 billion people who live in Burundi have access to electricity, a figure that drops to 1.7% in rural areas, according to World Bank statistics from 2017.
About 60% of the Burundian grid
requires rehabilitation or upgrading to meet interconnection standards of the East African Power Pool, according to a joint World Bank and Energy Sector Management Assistant Programme report published in May 2019.
Nigeria’s Rensource raises
$20mn for decentralised
power
For Nigeria to get out of its current state of energy poverty, power infrastructure needs to be decentralised.
Ademola Adesina, CEO of Rensource, stated this on December 18 while announcing a $20mn in Series A financing for the energy start-up.
The funding round was co-led by existing investors CRE Venture Capital and the Omidyar Network, with participation from Inspired Evolution, Proparco, EDPR, I&P, Sin Capital, and Yuzura Honda.
According to Adesina, “simultaneously greening and decentralising its power infrastructure is the only way to navigate Nigeria out of its current state of energy poverty.
“Pursuing this with a focus on themns of small-businesses that drive our economy creates a massive multiplier effect whose benefit accrues to all.”
He goes on to add, “Our push into O2O
is a natural step that leverages our existing infrastructure to further empower the merchants we serve. We aim to bring connect over one-million merchants in the next 5 years.
Rensource secures $20mn in Series A financing to power Nigerian SME productivity
Rensource, the energy start-up, said it will use the funds to expand the company’s footprint of macro utilities across Nigeria, as well as invest in additional technology infrastructure.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, only has 12 gigawatts of installed grid capacity, with just one-in-four Nigerians connected to the national power grid. In contrast, South
Africa has 50 gigawatts.
Launched in 2016, Rensource is bridging
Nigeria’s power deficit through the delivery of renewable-based decentralized energy, focusing primarily on SMEs. In 2018, it also secured a $650,000 loan to provide at least 4,000 shops with access to electricity.
Renewables reaches 90% in Kenya
Kenya brought a new 50 megawatt (MW) solar plant online on Friday which it said would mean renewable energy, led by hydroelectricity, now makes up more than 90% of its power mix.
The government is increasing electricity generation and investing in Kenya’s power grid to keep up with growing demand and reduce frequent blackouts in the east African country. But Kenya’s solar energy is still small compared to other sources, Reuters reported.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said the new solar plant, which has been built by the state-run Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation, was the biggest in East and Central Africa. It will contribute 2% of Kenya’s energy mix.
Most of Kenya’s electricity is already generated by renewable sources with geothermal ranked the second-biggest source of installed power generation after hydroelectricity.
“The 50MW solar plant has increased
the share of renewable energy in our energy mix to more than 90%,” Kenya’s Ministry of Energy said on Twitter. It did not give details of the plant’s cost or how it had been financed.
Kenya ranks 40th worldwide in EY’s renewable energy country attractiveness index, which was issued in November.
Week 50 19•December•2019
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