Page 13 - AfrElec Week 43 2021

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Africa Ren starts building Kodeni

Solar PV plant in Burkina Faso

BURKINA FASO PARIS-BASED Africa Ren is launching con- “Kodeni Solar also demonstrates that the
struction of a solar photovoltaic power plant in government’s framework for encouraging
Burkina Faso, which is due to come on stream PPPs is beginning to pay off. More than 500
in 2022 with a capacity of 38MWp, Afrik 21 MW of capacity will be added before 2025 at an
reported on Tuesday (October 26). extremely competitive price, to the benefit of the
The plant will be among the largest in Bur- Burkinabe population and businesses,” he said.
kina Faso, with a capacity greater than that Kodeni Solar has raised financing from the
of Nagréongo (34MWp), now being built by Netherlands Development Finance Company
French independent power producer (IPP) (FMO), and it’s Access to Energy Fund (AEF).
GreenYellow. The project is also supported by the Interact
Africa Ren’s project will be realised through Climate Change Facility (ICCF), a joint facility
Kodeni Solar, a new Africa Ren subsidiary, of European development institutions that pro-
which signed a public-private partnership (PPP) vided long-term debt.
with the Burkinabe authorities. The development phase of the project was
Burkina Faso’s minister of energy, Bachir co-financed by the Seed Capital Assistance Facil-
Ismaël Ouedraogo, said in a statement the Kod- ity (SCAF), an initiative of the United Nations
eni Solar project is essential for the energy auton- Environment Programme (UNEP).™
omy of Burkina Faso.

Mozambique-Malawi

Interconnector contracts awarded

STATE-OWNED Electricity Supply Corpo- MOMA will comprise a 218-km cable
MOZAMBIQUE ration of Malawi Ltd (ESCOM) has awarded between Matambo in Mozambique’s Tete prov-
several key contracts for a planned high-voltage ince and Phombeya in the Malawi’s Balaka
transmission line that will connect the coun- district. Kaitane said on October 19 that the pro-
try’s electricity transmission grid with that of ject was now expected to be completed in late
Mozambique, the Nyasa Times reported on October 2023, nearly a year later than initially
October 21. planned, due to complications from the coro-
According to the newspaper, ESCOM’s Sen- navirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
ior Project Manager Alex Kaitane announced The new line is anticipated to help Malawi
the contract awards at a press briefing held on overcome its serious electricity shortages, partly
October 19 to update the public on the progress by giving it access to Mozambican supplies and
of the Mozambique-Malawi Interconnector partly connecting to the Southern Africa Power
(MOMA) project. L&T of India has been con- Pool (SAPP) grid. (Mozambique’s Tete province
tracted to do the MOMA construction work is expected to become a major supplier to SAPP
and extend the line to Phombeya, he said, while because of its vast hydropower resources.) In the
Sinohydro of China will handle the Matambo medium to long term, the connection will also
substation upgrade. Both of these initiatives put Malawi in a position to trade power with
will be supervised by Gopa Intec International other SAPP member states.
of Germany, he added. The two countries’ governments laid the
“These [contracts] have just been awarded in foundation for the first phase work on MOMA
the past month. The contractors are now busy in 2013, when they signed a power intercon-
mobilising [and] moving into design phase, and nection agreement. They have also said that the
then we shall proceed into the rest of the pro- interconnector may be extended in a second
ject,” Kaitane was quoted as saying by the Nyasa phase in order to connect Mozambique’s north-
Times. ern and central grids via Malawi.™

Week 43 28•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13