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AfrElec FUELS AfrElec

Kenya avoids fuel shortages

KENYA KENYA’S Energy and Petroleum Regulatory they could not obtain it from wholesalers, she
Authority (EPRA) has said that recent price added.
increases and emergency procurement cam- EPRA responded by taking steps to make
paigns are helping the country to avoid petro- more gasoline and diesel available across
leum product shortages. the country, she said. “In order to bridge the
Mueni Mutung’a, the acting director-general gap, emergency tenders were called [earlier
of the agency, told the Nation earlier this week in August] through the open tender system,
that supply conditions had not been favourable thereby alleviating supply constraints,” she was
at the beginning of August. This is largely a result quoted as saying by the Nation.
of the fact that demand for gasoline and diesel These extra volumes should help cover any
has grown much more quickly than expected gaps that may occur as traders ramp up imports,
since the end of June, when curfews and restric- she said.
tions on movement began to be lifted, she said. Mutung’a also noted that market conditions
In April, she explained, Kenyan fuel traders had changed as a result of the government’s deci-
reacted to the demand destruction resulting sion to raise motor fuel prices. The rate hike took
from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic effect on August 14, causing gasoline and diesel
by scaling back their petroleum product import prices to climb by 20% and 17% respectively.
schedules for May and June. As a result, she said, Kenya has seen motor fuel consumption lev-
when demand began rising again in July, some els rise significantly since the end of June. EPRA
traders – especially independent firms serving data show that traders in the East African state
remote and isolated parts of the country – were sold 174mn litres of gasoline and 217mn litres of
not able to access enough gasoline and diesel to diesel in August, up from 144mn litres of gaso-
satisfy customers. Some had no choice but to buy line and 187mn litres of diesel in July.™
fuel from large companies at retail price, since

RENEWABLES

Siemens Gamesa to supply turbines to Enel-

led 301MW wind farm in Morocco

MOROCCO SIEMENS Gamesa Renewable Energy has Boujdour (300-MW), Jbel Lahdid (200-MW),
received an order from an Enel-led group to Tiskrad (100-MW) and Tangier II (70-MW),
supply 301 MW of wind turbines for Morocco’s form an important component of the govern-
Boujdour wind farm. ment’s national energy strategy.
The deal, which calls for the Spanish company In 2018, ONEE said that the 850-MW pro-
to install 87 of its SG 3.4-132 model turbines at ject could require total investment of over
Boujdour, along with a 5-year service agreement, MAD12bn ($1.25bn). This would be funded by
was signed with a consortium of Morocco’s Nar- equity investments from the shareholders Enel
eva, an energy investment company owned by Green Power and Navera, as debt financing from
the Moroccan royal family, and Italy’s Enel Green ONEE.
Power. The project is expected to be commis- ONEE has already borrowed from the Ger-
sioned by the third quarter of 2022. man Development Bank (KfW), the European
The Boujdour wind farm was awarded to the Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Com-
consortium in 2016 as part of an 850-MW wind mission to fund the 180-MW Midelt wind farm,
tender in Morocco, Siemens Gamesa said in a the first part of the whole 850-MW development.
statement. Rabat wants the country to achieve 52%
Morocco’s state-run energy regulators ONEE renewables by 2030.
and MASEN said in November 2019 that the Enel currently operates one 55-MW wind
wind farm would require MAD4bn ($435mn) farm in Morocco. Nareva currently controls
of investment. 3,350 MW of energy assets in Morocco, of which
The Boujdour wind farm is just one of the 60% is renewable energy. Nareva already oper-
five that make up the Moroccan government’s ates five wind farms in Morocco, including the
850-MW Projet Éolien Intégré (Integrated 300-MW Tarfaya wind farm, one of the largest in
Wind Energy Project), which will all be privately Africa, and is building the first coal-fired thermal
funded and developed by Nareva and Enel Green plant with ultra-supercritical technology at Safi
power. The five projects, Midelt (180-MW), (2 × 693 MW).™

Week 35 03•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9