Page 10 - AfrElec Week 05

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
“Africa is blessed with resources, but its future lies in its people...education is the great equaliser. Only by developing our workforce will we make a dent in poverty, close the income gap between rich and poor, and adopt new technologies to create jobs in knowledge- intensive sectors,” said Hanan Morsy, Director of the Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department at the Bank.
AFDB
GRID
Egypt-Sudan power
interconnection to start
operation in February
Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker is expected
to open the rst phase of the electricity interconnection project with Sudan this month.
Egypt has completed all procedures regarding the electricity interconnection
with Sudan through establishing several infrastructure projects, building power towers, and conducting operation tests, along with technical discussions with the Sudanese side.
e initial capacity of the project will be 50MW, and then will increase to 100MW in the second phase. e maximum capacity will be 300MW.
Regarding the payment methods for electricity, the source noted that it would be settled by the political leaderships of both
countries.
Egypt’s cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad
said in a previous statement that Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly instructed
the ministries of electricity and supply
to negotiate an agreement with Sudan by which Egypt supplies its southern neighbour with electricity in exchange for crops and commodities, such as meat and soybeans.
Egypt-Sudan trade exchange reached about $364m in the rst eight months of 2018, of which $222m worth Egyptian exports and $142m worth Sudanese exports.
Egypt has invested heavily in electricity production in the past four years, and it has a surplus of 2GW. e government is working on several interconnection projects with neighbouring countries to exploit that power surplus.
MINIGRIDS
Minigrids could save Nigeria millions
Pioneering minigrid technology could provide high quality power access to an estimated 40mn people in Nigeria, while saving almost bankrupt distribution companies (DisCos) $3-6mn per year.
Building new minigrids in areas already served by DisCos would also bring new cost saving and revenue potential to min-grid developers and expand the market across the country for distributed energy technology,
according to a report from US think tank the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Rural areas in developing countries such as Nigeria have grid infrastructure, but power cuts, billing problems, high tari s and widespread the mean than many potential customers do not connect their homes
or business to the grid, preferring to use expensive and diesel generators.
e research found that undergrid mini- grids can improve electricity service to 40 million rural residents across Nigeria and nearly 200 million households globally.
Undergrid mini-grids can improve electricity service to 40 million rural residents across Nigeria and nearly 200 million households globally.
Undergrid mini-grids can provide high- quality electricity service to local communities who have the ability and willingness to pay while saving them US$ 0.15 per kWh by displacing backup diesel generation.
By developing undergrid mini-grids, DisCos in Nigeria can save US$ 3-6 million annually from reduced losses due to their limited capacity to deliver service and collect revenue in remote areas.
Undergrid mini-grid owners could earn US$ 1 billion by developing and operating 4,000 systems in Nigeria to serve 40 million people.
Undergrid mini-grids could cut project capital costs by 12–30% through sharing distribution infrastructure with DisCos. POWER FOR ALL
GROWTH
Eskom pulls down SA’s growth forecasts
Financial services rm Absa has sharply reduced its growth forecasts for South Africa as persistently weak business sentiment, electricity supply issues and a drought weigh on the economy.
In its rst-quarter report, Africa’s third- largest bank cut its full-year 2019 GDP
(gross domestic product) growth forecast
to an anemic 0.3% from the 0.6% expected
in October 2019. e 2020 projection was reduced to 0.9% from 1.4%, with 2021 and 2022 predicted to level out at 1.2% as opposed to the 1.4% projected the previous quarter.
Following a broad-based GDP contraction of 0.6% in the third quarter of 2019, fourth- quarter data is due March 3 and is also expected to be weak, coming in at around a 0.4% expansion in part due to renewed power cuts.
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Week 05 06•February•2020