Page 12 - AfrElec Week 16

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 20, 2020. The Company’s ISIN and SEDOL will remain unchanged.
The website address, at which the information required pursuant to AIM Rule 26 is available, will be www.savannah-energy. com once the name change has taken effect.
Shareholders should note that shareholdings will be unaffected by the change of name.
Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Energy, said: “The name change to Savannah Energy is reflective of the asset portfolio and business model development that we have seen over the course of recent years. Savannah is now
a major supplier of gas for domestic power projects in Nigeria, and we expect to be able to strongly grow this business over the course of the coming years in a similar manner to our plans for our business in Niger.” Savannah Energy, April 17 2020
HYDRO
Egypt’s lsewedy Technology
wins Stiegler’s Gorge
equipment deal
Egypt’s lsewedy Technology, a subsidiary of Elsewedy Electric Company, is to install the electromechanical equipment at the Rufiji, or Stiegler’s Gorge Dam, hydropower plant in Tanzania.
The company has signed a five-year contract with the state-owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco).
Elsewedy Technology was recently selected by state-owned Tanesco.
“The Rufiji Dam is a strategic project. It is expected to generate electricity in Tanzania and throughout East Africa,” says Ayman Farouk, Elsewedy Technology’s Head of Sales and Development.
The Rufiji hydroelectric dam project,
with a projected capacity of 2,100 MW, is not unfamiliar territory for Elsewedy Technology. This company and another Egyptian company, Arab Contractors, were selected in November
2018 to build the mega-infrastructure, which is estimated to cost $3.6bn.
The dam is being built on the Rufiji
River, which flows through the middle of Selous Park, a game reserve in southeastern Tanzania. The first phase will be completed by the end of 2020.
The Rufiji dam will be operational by 2022
Construction work on the structure was officially launched in Stiegler’s Gorge National Park in eastern Tanzania in late February 2019 and actually started in July of the same year. Initially planned to take 26 months, the project will last three years.
The Rufiji hydroelectric dam will eventually be one of the largest in the East African sub-region, if not Africa.
SOLAR
Algeria to join German Desertec project
Algeria plans to join the German Desertec project as part of its strategy to diversify its energy resources. This was recently revealed by the Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab.
The minister mentioned that the national energy operators signed a memorandum of understanding with Dii Desert Energy, the operator of the German Desertec project and that the two are in the process of signing the final agreement.
“The signing of the final paperwork is lagging behind because of the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mohamed Arkab. “Nevertheless, negotiations are ongoing through videoconference and if need be, the final agreement will also be signed through the virtual channel,” he added.
This plan will mark an important shift
to the North African country, as the Sahara Desert, a key element of the German Desertec project, covers nearly 90% of Algerian territory.
The project will be important in the diversification of the energy mix in this state, whose exports are almost 100% dependent
on hydrocarbons, and it will create a new national model for the consumption of electrical energy.
The German Desertec project is a large- scale project supported by a foundation of the same name and the consortium Dii (Desertec industrial initiative) created in Germany as
a limited liability company (GmbH). The project was launched in 2010 and abandoned a while later before being restarted at the end of December 2019.
It aims to create a global renewable energy plan based on the concept of harnessing sustainable power from sites where renewable sources of energy are more abundant and transferring it through high-voltage direct current transmission to consumption centres. All kinds of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, hydro and biomass are envisioned. The sun-rich deserts of the world play a special role.
Solar power to support Zimbabwe’s national grid
Solar power collectors to augument the national grid
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has announced an ambitious $500mn solar power project for the country to complement Kariba and Hwange plants by 2022.
The project, to be financed with private capital, will see solar plants built across the country.
The project is expected to narrow by a whopping 500 megawatts (MW) in imported energy and work towards stabilising supply to the consumer. Zesa is currently identifying suitable sites for the project.
Speaking in Victoria Falls recently, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) Systems Manager Ikuphuleng Dube also revealed
that Zesa was taking a new look at the stalled Batoka Gorge Hydropower project which was abandoned in 1992 when the then
Zambian President Frederick Chiluba pulled Zambia out of the project, citing financial constraints.
Dube also announced that a new regional power project was on the drawing board for Devil’s Gorge which is believed to be on the Zambezi River system.
With the projected solar project, Zimbabwe now joins Zambia which is already using solar power for street lights in Zambian capital Lusaka which is generated from the sprawling Lusaka South industrial park.
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Week 16 23•April•2020