Page 10 - AfrElec Week 04

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), Lion’s Head Global Partners currently manage the fund. The fund had its first close in November 2018 with a committed capital of $58mn and has since closed several deals in the energy access space.
These include an $8mn local currency loan to BBOXX in Rwanda for the expansion of its solar home systems business and a $2.5mn inventory financing loan to SunCulture in Kenya, for the scaling up of its pay-as-you-go solar irrigation kits business to smallholder farmers.
HYDRO
Egypt and Ethiopia eye
calmer waters in Nile dam
dispute
Foreign ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan gathered in Washington on Tuesday for last-ditch talks on the Renaissance Dam, which have led to bitter recriminations between Cairo and Addis Ababa.
After several failed negotiations, the foreign ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan gathered in Washington on Tuesday for a last-ditch attempt to reach a final agreement on the Renaissance Dam.
Ever since Ethiopia announced its intention to go ahead with the construction of the 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus in 2011, it has caused a rift between Addis Ababa and Cairo.
Ethiopia wants the dam to boost its electricity supplies in mostly rural areas and revive the economy. Egypt sees the dam however as an existential threat, because it relies on the Nile for 90 percent of its water supply.
The last meeting in mid-January, also mediated by the United States, ended with a draft deal on the filling and operation of what would be Africa’s largest hydroelectric project.
“I’m very optimistic,” says Fadi
Georges Comair, president of Unesco’s Intergovernmental Hydrologic Programme.
“Two years ago, the speeches that we heard from riparian countries was very tough,” he said referring to Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan whose populations live along the Blue Nile River, a tributary that contributes 85% of the Nile waters.
“This year, after the mediation of the United States, we’ve heard the riparian countries talk about applying a new vision of equitable sharing, we have never heard that before,” he said.
In the draft deal, Ethiopia agreed that it would fill the dam in stages during the rainy season. The move was seen as a compromise on its earlier intention to start generating electricity as soon as possible.
Cairo fears that if filled too quickly the dam could disrupt its drinking water.
RENEWABLES
SA Wind and solar bodies
urge minister to kick-start
power procurement
The heads of South Africa’s wind and solar industry bodies urged Mineral Resources
and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe
on Tuesday to publish, without delay, the Ministerial determinations required to unlock the procurement of much-needed electricity capacity in line with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), promulgated in October.
Addressing members of the National Press Club in Pretoria, South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) CEO Ntombifuthi Ntuli and South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) chairperson Wido Schnabel reported that their members had projects that could be implemented
on an accelerated basis and in line with
the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) recent call for proposals that could be grid-connected in the “shortest time and at the least possible cost”.
The call was made in a request for information (RFI), the deadline for which is January 31, for supply and demand options to close what is at least a 3 000 MW capacity gap, but which a recent Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report calculates could be as large as 8 000 MW. The CSIR also warns that the country’s energy shortfall, which was above 1 350 GWh in 2019 (the country’s worst-ever load-shedding year), could grow to nearly 2 000 GWh this year and peak at about 4 600 GWh in 2022.
A full month has been allocated for the evaluation of the RFI responses, after which an emergency procurement process is expected to be initiated.
BLOCKCHAIN
Cenfura, C4D to use
blockchain tech in in South
Africa
Cenfura has entered into an agreement with C4D to tokenise microgrid assets in South Africa. The partnership will construct and operate the solar PV and battery storage-based microgrid assets in 6,500 gated communities across South Africa with potential power demand of 3,000 MW (3 GW).
“We are very excited to be finally implementing these plans that we have worked extremely hard on – this is the culmination of a lot of great work from our team,” said Randall Meals, Cenfura President & CEO.
Together the two firms will deliver the first tokenised assets to microgrids in the Gauteng Province of South Africa during the first quarter of this year. These microgrids will ensure energy security for the gated residential communities, reduce reliance on the national power grid and deliver a positive impact on the environment.
Every element of these renewable
energy assets, from generation to storage
to residential fiat payments, will utilise the XCF Token and Cenfura’s blockchain-based technology platform for the most transparent and efficient renewable energy production in South Africa.
Cenfura was established with the goal to accelerate the adoption of fully distributed renewable energy across the globe. As an
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Week 04 30•January•2020