Page 14 - AfrElec Week 12 2023

AfrElec NEWS IN BRIEF AfrElec

and reducing energy costs for their businesses fully recouped its investment in the project, Kenya and Australia-based Fortescue Future
in a climate of increased power shortages.” according to earlier approximations. Industries (FFI) have agreed to develop
Both companies are owned by Zimbabwean “Subject to the relevant regulatory approvals a 300MW green ammonia and fertilizer
billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, who chairs the being obtained and other various condition factory using a rich geothermal field near the
Econet Group, which comprises Cassava precedents being satisfied with the proposed Rift Valley town of Naivasha, where several
Technologies and Econet Wireless. DPA falls transaction, CFP intends to partner with industrial parks are planned.
under the latter. the existing shareholders of the Company FFI is the green energy unit of Fortescue
Africa Data Centres is the continent’s largest to ensure the success of the 310MW wind- Metals Group, the world’s fourth-largest iron
network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud- powered electricity generation plant,” read the ore producer. The parties have also agreed,
neutral data centre facilities. LTWP notice. as part of the project’s scope, to include the
LTWP is currently owned by six shareholders: supply of green electricity to the East African
Anergi Turkana Investments Limited; KP&P country’s grid.
Daewoo E&C secures Africa B.V.; Danish Climate Fund through Kenya’s President William Ruto said the
Investment Fund for Developing Countries;
partnership with FFI will catalyse progress
$790mn deal to construct Vestas Eastern Africa Limited; Finnish Fund towards low-carbon energy self-sufficiency.
for Industrial Cooperation; and Sandpiper
“This is a bold statement that Kenya is on an
power plants in Libya Limited. ambitious green growth agenda,” he said in
a statement released on March 15 by State

South Korea’s Daewoo Engineering & House.
Construction (E&C) has secured a $790mn Wärtsilä completes 130-MW The agreement was signed by Energy, and
deal from Libya’s General Electricity National Treasury Cabinet Secretaries Davis
Company (GECOL) to construct gas-fired power plant in Senegal Chirchir and Njuguna Ndung’u, and FFI
power generation plants in Misurata and Executive Chairman Andrew Forrest.
Mellitah and install the emergency power Wärtsilä, a Finnish energy sector solutions This is the first of three projects that will see
supply, according to a statement on Friday, provider, has announced the inauguration of Australia’s FFI invest in green energy and
March 10. a 130 MW power plant it built in Malicounda, manufacturing in Kenya. Forrest said the
The move comes within Daewoo’s E&C western Senegal. partnership sets the country on a path to
strategy to support its operations in Libya The Malicounda power plant plays a vital industrial decarbonisation, adding, “We are
and contributes to expanding its work in the role in the government’s strategy to bolster determined to be with the people of Kenya on
MENA region. the nation’s growing economy and ensure that journey, every step of the way.”
The projects will help meet the surging universal access to electricity by 2025. Momentum is accelerating Kenya’s vision
demand for electricity in Libya, especially in It is one of the first public-private partnership to establish itself as a world leader in the
summer. Libya’s civil war has resulted in a projects in West Africa, involving the African production of fertiliser made using green
notable lack of electricity supply. Development Bank (AfDB), Africa50, the ammonia, he said. “In doing so, its leadership
GECOL and Daewoo’s E&C signed an MoU Infrastructure Development Fund for Africa, is providing Kenya additional energy security
in July 2022 to resume work on the Zueitina and Senegal State power utility Senelec. that steps beyond the use of fossil fuels.”
dual-cycle power plant stalled project after a The Flexicycle power plant is poised
prolonged period of suspension. to produce 956 GWh/y of electricity, a
In December last year, the Korean firm substantial 17% boost to the nation’s overall Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium
announced it aimed to resume the power generation capacity.
infrastructure projects in Benghazi that had The Matelec-operated plant offers the benefits ore exports leads to 2mn
been suspended for more than ten years of both simple-cycle and combined-cycle
through co-operation with the Housing and operations, leveraging seven 18V50 engines tonne stockpile
Utilities Projects Implementation Authority. and a steam turbine for optimal efficiency. Not
Daewoo E&C has operations in Libya only does it provide fast load-following power Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium ore exports
since 1978. It implemented 163 projects at to ensure system reliability, but it also boasts imposed in December has led to some
a total cost of $11bn in the North African the flexibility required to integrate renewable 2mn tonnes of the key battery metal being
country in construction, power generation, energy sources. stockpiled, Bloomberg reports.
petrochemicals, civil engineering and The plant will initially run on heavy fuel oil, Zimbabwe Miners Federation leader
architecture. but it will have the flexibility to switch to Henrietta Rushwaya, in a letter to President
locally-supplied gas from the nearby Greater Emmerson Mnangagwa, said the ban, put in
Tortue Ahmeyim field once it becomes place to encourage local processing of lithium
CFP UK Holdings buys available. This adaptable approach will result ore, is negatively impacting miners and the
industry as a whole.
in a reduction in the cost of energy in Senegal.
31.25% stake in Kenya’s Wärtsilä plays a critical role in the power “The unexpected ban has prejudiced standing
offtake agreements between miners and
generation sector in Senegal, as it provides
Lake Turkana Wind Power power-generating equipment through 20 international buyers, some of whom had taken
power plants that have a combined installed
loans from their respective countries to trade
CFP UK Holdings Limited has announced it capacity of 543 MW. in these minerals,” Rushwaya said in the letter.
will buy a stake of 31.25% in 310MW Lake The ban has impacted small- and medium-
Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) Limited, scale miners, but it’s not clear how much
pending regulatory approval from the Kenya Fortescue to develop lithium is contained in the stockpiled ore,
Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, according to Bloomberg.
Business Daily reports. 300MW green ammonia & China and South Africa are the largest
The wind farm has not disclosed the size importers of Zimbabwean lithium. Mining
of the deal that is coming ahead of 2024, fertilizer factory in Kenya earned Zimbabwe $5.4bn in 2022, twice as
the year the company estimates it will have much as in 2017.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 22•March•2023