Page 11 - AfrElec Week 09

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NEWS IN BRIEF
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over. “Dumsor is not back,” he said.
He also said others areas also experience
blackouts due to fault on some of its transformers.
“That cannot be described as dumsor,” he stressed.
GRID
Angola, Zambia sign electricity agreement
THE Zambian government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Angola to facilitate electricity trade between the two countries, Zambia media reported.
Energy minister Matthew Nkhuwa said the proposed grid inter-connector aimed to improve reliability and security of electricity supply between the two countries.
Angolan minister of energy and waters, Joao Borges said the development of the power inter-connector would spur economic development in both countries.
Zesco Limited and RNT of Angola also signed an agreement on the development of interlinking transmission lines.
Nigerian DISCO to improve services with new tariff
Nigeria’s Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Plc has said with a reviewed tariff, it will revolutionise electricity
distribution and its services to customers. This, the Discos explained it would achieve
by embarking on network re-alignment and provide new distribution transformers as well as dedicated feeders to supply power to its customers.
The BEDC State Head for Ondo and Ekiti States, Kunbi Fabiyi, said this at a public consultation forum organised ahead of the tariff review, held at Akure, Ondo State.
The BEDC management said it would actualise its proposal for an embedded
power of about 300megawatts under the willing buyer-willing seller arrangement with independent power generators outside the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) national grid, to boost power supply and meet needs of customers.
Labiyi explained that the upcoming number of transmission stations would help BEDC reduce overloading and mitigate load growth, stressing that “ageing equipment would be replaced in the next years to improve general public safety and ensure quality power to customers.
“Plan is ongoing to invest in electrification of electrified areas and strengthening of existing network,” Labiyi said.
She added, that the company also plan to ensure 100 per cent metering under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) and 100 per cent enumeration and proper mapping of customers to transformers and feeders.
In addressing customers’ complaints further, BEDC said it would equip its call centres to a level that complaints would be resolved at a point of discussion, thereby making the call centre a one-stop shop for complaint resolution.
SUPPLY
Zambia’s Maamba Collieries
moves pumps to provide
water for 300MW plant
Zambia’s Maamba Collieries has relocated water pumps to a new location in the Kariba lake, to provide water for the boilers of its 300MW coal-fired power plant.
The company said in a release on February 28 that this was necessitated by falling water levels in the Kariba lake.
Maamba operates two 150 MW power generating units, each consuming 9 000 m3/d of water when running at full capacity.
The company attributed the low water levels in the area to low rainfall during the last wet season in the country.
“Installing the pumps at a deeper location was not easy in crocodile- and hippo-infested waters, as these had to be kept at bay as men worked in knee-deep waters. We often had
to seek the assistance of wildlife wardens to ensure safety,” said mining manager Scott Phiri.
The pump relocation was done within three weeks, with temporary power lines and substations having been set up, as well as a road created to transfer the two 132 kW pumps.
Maamba supplies 10% of Zambia’s current installed electricity generation capacity.
PERFORMANCE
Kenya Power goes after
electricity thieves following
profit slump
Kenya Power is rooting out electricity thieves using illegal connections to the national grid to deprive the company of revenue as it seeks to lift itself out of a deep earnings slump, Reuters reported.
The company, which is the main electricity distributor in the East African nation, said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of December plunged 69%, a day after it posted delayed results for the full year ended June 2019, which showed a 93% slump in pretax profit.
The delay was caused by a vacancy at the
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