Page 11 - AfrElec Week 38

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
POLICY
France to fund innovative
off-grid renewables
projects in Africa
French development agency the Agence Française de Développement has offered EUR1.6mn to businesses and NGOs to fund novel off-grid energy projects in Africa to provide sustainable heating and cooling as well as electricity.
The organisation, together with the French Environment & Energy Management Agency will finance a dozen projects that innovate in some manner and provide environmentally sustainable development in Africa.
It is the second time a call for projects has been launched. In 2017, some 100 projects were submitted and nine supported for a total investment of EUR5.8mn and public support amounting to EUR1.8mn.
Among the previous winners were hybrid solar plants, river turbines and off-grid electrical infrastructure. Other projects proposing innovative uses of electricity were also selected, including improved irrigation, agriculture, desalination and mobility systems as well as new energy billing schemes such as pay-as-you-go and leasing options.
GE Renewable Energy to
become carbon neutral by
2020
GE Renewable Energy today announced its plan to make 100 percent of its operations carbon neutral by the end of 2020. GE Renewable Energy will reach carbon neutrality by reducing emissions through
operational efficiencies, securing renewable electricity supply to all GE Renewable Energy sites throughout its operations for wind, hydropower, energy storage and
grid businesses – and balancing remaining emissions with the purchase of carbon offsets to achieve a net-zero footprint.
Jérôme Pécresse, CEO, GE Renewable Energy said, “This is a decision that makes business sense. Energy efficiency, waste reduction, and renewable power sources will ultimately combine to lower the operating costs of our business. I am confident our journey to carbon neutrality will contribute eventually to the growth of our business and also to the overall sustainability efforts driven by the renewable energy industry.”
Danielle Merfeld, Chief Technology Officer, GE Renewable Energy said, “By pursuing carbon neutrality, we will gain first-hand experience to further champion the sustainability goals of our customers and other partners. It’s our priority to walk the talk in our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint.”
GE Renewable Energy has already contributed to corporate sustainability efforts worldwide, providing wind, storage and grid integration technology and services to some of the world’s largest companies, so that these parties can reach individual sustainability targets.
GRID
Zambiatoimportelectricity from Eskom from October
Zambia is to import 300MW of electricity from Eskom, the South African power utility, for six months in order to ease shortages, Reuters reported.
Citing Webster Musonda, MD of Zambia’s electricity company, Zesco, Reuters said
Imports will begin on October 1 and would cost about $22m per month. “The negotiations have been concluded and we have an offer on the table. We will spread the cost of importing this power to our customers,” said Zesco managing director Webster Musonda.
Africa’s second largest copper producer, Zambia has a power deficit of more than 750MW because of low water levels at hydropower dams, said Reuters. Zambia last week announced it would increase the hours for power rationing as water levels continued to fall.
Zambia has historically priced electricity below the cost of production through subsidies. Only in recent years has the country started to gradually raise prices.
In 2017, the country’s energy regulator approved a 75% price hike for electricity retail consumers and introduced a flat 9.30 US cents per kilowatt hour tariff for mining companies, said Reuters.
Zambia’s president, Edgar Lungu, said
in June the country was not slipping into
a sovereign debt crisis. “Zambia is not in a position of a crisis,” he told Bloomberg News. “When you find that you are being strangled by debt, you hold back and see how you can realign your position so that in the end you continue being alive, you don’t suffocate.”
COAL
Adesina aims for coal-free Africa
African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina has unveiled ambitious plans to scrap coal power stations across the continent and switch to renewable energy.
Addressing the at United Nations climate talks in New York, Adesina outlined efforts to shutter coal-fired power plants and build the “largest solar zone in the world” in the arid Sahel belt.
“Coal is the past, and renewable energy is the future. For us at the African Development Bank, we’re getting out of coal,” Adesina told delegates to the Climate Action Summit in Manhattan this week.
The Bank’s $500mn green baseload scheme will be rolled out in 2020 and is set to yield $5bn of investment that will help African countries transition from coal and fossil fuel to renewable energy, said Adesina.
Adesina also talked about plans for $20bn of investments in solar and clean energy that would provide the region’s 250mn people with 10,000MW of electricity.
“There’s a reason God gave Africa sunlight,” said Adesina.
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