Page 11 - AfrElec Week 13

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
plants,eachwithacapacityof65MW,oracom- bined installed capacity of 390 MW. The project represents a total investment of approximately $446mn.
The Norwegian company and its partners KLP Norfund and Africa 50 have a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with state-util- ity EETC for their six solar projects at Benban.
Scatec Solar has extensive experience deliv- ering sustainable clean energy systems and has worked with MIGA on multiple projects in the past. It has installed 1.3 GW of solar capacity worldwide and has a total of 1.9 GW currently under management or construction on four continents.
“The MIGA guarantees are a cost-efficient way of mitigating risk for our largest project in the portfolio. Strong partnerships are essential to our business and this agreement is further strengtheningtherobustnessofourinvestment,” said Raymond Carlsen, CEO of Scatec Solar.
Theplantsaresetgenerate930GWhperyear of electricity
The plants will ultimately enhance Egypt’s ability to manage planned and forced outages, as well as to pursue its aspiration to export electricity.
Egypt’s Renewable Energy Programme aims to raise renewables’ share of power capacity from 8% in 2017 to 20% by 2022, and 42% by 2035.
A key part of this is the Benban Solar Park, which when completed will have 1.8 GW of capacity at a number of power projects devel- oped by private and public developers.
Scatec Solar said last week that it was start- ing to feel the operational impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), although it was too early to say if completion dates for projects in Africa would be affected.
It said its forecasts for power generation for thefirstquarterof2020wouldbeinlinewithits expectations.™
GAS-FIRED GENERATION
Governor of Rivers State rejects NLNG’s request for exemption from lockdown
NIGERIA
THE government of Nigeria’s Rivers State has rejected a request from Nigeria LNG (NLNG) and several other companies involved in the pro- duction, processing and distribution of natural gas for an exemption from the lockdown regime imposed last week.
The lockdown drew objections from three Nigerian gas companies – NLNG, Nigerian Gas Co. (NGC) and Oilserv – and Total E&P, a sub- sidiary of France’s Total. These four firms joined with a local beverage maker, International Brew- eries, to send a special request to Nyesom Wike, the state’s governor, seeking a waiver.
In a joint letter, the companies explained that their operations necessarily involved travel into and out of the state. NLNG and the other gas operators noted that they were involved in distributing gas around the country, and Inter- national Breweries pointed out that its beverage deliveries were time-bound.
Wike responded to their request in the neg- ative, saying that these companies’ business interests would have to take a back seat to public health considerations.
“Government cannot grant their requests now because the protection of human life is more important than any other thing, and we shall do everything necessary to fulfil our obligation in
this direction,” he wrote.
Later, the governor qualified his response
somewhat, saying that his administration would be willing to reconsider the manner at some point in the future. “[We] shall review our restrictions concerning [these five companies’] activities when we are fully convinced that it will be reasonable to do so,” he remarked. “Let me reiterate that we have taken these painful deci- sions because we cannot afford to lose any life in this state.”
Nyesom Wike ordered a complete closure of Rivers’ borders, as well as a complete shutdown of all local markets, on March 25. He took this step after the Nigerian Centre for Disease Con- trol (NCDC) identified the first case in the state, saying it was a necessary to curb the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The coronavirus outbreak has hit Nigeria’s economy hard, as it has reduced demand for crude oil, the country’s main export and primary source of revenue. In turn, the decline in demand has been a blow for NLNG. In mid-March, Mele Kyari, the group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
(NNPC), said that at least 12 cargoes of LNG from the four-member consortium had been stranded and could not find buyers.™
Week 13 02•April•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P11