Page 11 - AfrElec Week 50 2020

AfrElec GAS-TO -POWER AfrElec

Globeleq secures $250mn in debt funding

for Temane gas-to-power project

POLAND UK-BASED Globeleq and its partners in Cen- companies – eleQtra (UK), Sasol (South Africa)
tral Termica de Temane (CTT) have secured up and the national oil power provider Electrici-
to $250mn worth of debt funding for a scheme dade de Moçambique (EDM) – to build the CTT
that will use domestically produced natural gas plant. Sasol will provide gas for the TPP from its
to generate electricity. onshore Pande-Temane Inhassoro fields, and
Last week, Globeleq revealed that the US Globeleq will supply electricity to EDM under a
International Development Finance Corp. 25-year tolling agreement.
(IDFC) had pledged to provide up to $200mn for CTT will complement another scheme
the project, which calls for the construction of a designed to improve and update Mozambique’s
450-MW thermal power plant (TPP) and asso- energy sector – namely, the Temane Transmis-
ciated transmission infrastructure in Temane. It sion Project (TTP), which will involve the con-
also reported that the OPEC Fund for Interna- struction of a 400-kV power transmission line
tional Development had agreed to make up to along a 563-km route from the power station to
$50mn available. The funds will be disbursed the South African border. This new line will be
once the parties have finalised the loan agree- linked to the South African transmission grid,
ments and met the relevant conditions, it said. according to earlier reports.
These loans will cover about 20% of the cost Mike Scholey, the CEO of Globeleq, said that
of the CTT project, which is expected to carry a the CTT project had the potential to change
price tag of around $1.246bn. The World Bank’s Mozambique for the better. “The Temane initi-
International Finance Corp. (IFC) has agreed ative is an absolute regional game-changer,” he
to provide the balance of debt funding for the was quoted as saying in the company’s statement.
scheme, or nearly $1bn. “It will ensure a reliable and affordable power
In a statement, Globeleq reported that it supply, [both] crucial elements for economic and
had chosen an engineering, procurement and social development. CTT will provide electricity
construction (EPC) contractor for the project access to millions of people in the region.”
through competitive bidding. As the winner of For his part, Marcelino Gildo Alberto, the
the contest, TSK (Spain) will design and build chairman and CEO of EDM, described the pro-
the TPP, which will be outfitted with gas-fired ject as a “key strategic priority.” He declared: “We
turbines manufactured by Siemens (Germany), remain committed to delivering this important
it said. “TSK has extensive experience in design- CTT project, thereby contributing to the gov-
ing similarly-sized combined-cycle power plants ernment’s goals of universal access by 2030 and
utilising the Siemens turbines,” it added. positioning of Mozambique as a regional energy
Globeleq is working with three other hub.”™
NEWS IN BRIEF

DATA CENTRES data centres currently use up to 1% of the The move to add 26 utility-scale wind and
world’s electricity. solar energy projects including its first ever
Amazon to generate for to generate in South Africa will come from ambition to convert most of its business to
Reports suggest the power Amazon intends in South Africa is part of Amazon’s wider
Eskom a solar project in the Northern Cape, due to renewable energy around the world.
start construction in 2021 and Eskom’s grid
“With a total of 127 solar and wind
Amazon is planning to generate its own will transmit it to its final destination. projects, Amazon is now the biggest corporate
electricity to run through the grid of South Amazon estimates 28GWh of solar energy, buyer of renewable energy ever,” says Amazon
Africa’s struggling state-owned power utility enough to supply more than 3,000 middle- founder Jeff Bezos in a statement. “We are on
Eskom. class households with electricity, will be a path to running 100% of our business on
The tech giant wants to power its new data transmitted from the project through the grid. renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of
centres including the ‘region’ data centre one This will be shift for Eskom which typically our original target of 2030.”
for storage and processing opened in Cape generates the majority of its power from coal, South Africans have been experiencing
Town by its cloud computing subsidiary, but has been making moves toward renewable power cuts, or “load shedding” as it is known
Amazon Web Services in Cape Town. energy. locally, for the past few months. Eskom has
Data centes are heavy energy users The project has become the first to be been generally struggling to maintain its grid
with banks of computing power running approved by South Africa’s energy regulator a for a few years now. On Friday (Dec. 11) it
round-the-clock and often requiring cooling as part of efforts to improve power generation announced it will implement a two-day load
equipment to avoid overheating. It’s estimated in the country. shedding from 6 am to 11 pm “as the system is

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