Page 14 - AfrElec Week 16 2021

AfrElec NEWS IN BRIEF AfrElec

World’s longest power Science and Technology (NUST). The team uptake agreement has been completed
of foreign engineers recruited to conduct the
with the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution
transmission cable to study could not travel to Zimbabwe,” adds Company (ZETDC). “The company obtained
independent power producer (IPP) licenses
Graciano Takawira, president of Pragma Leaf
connect Morocco, UK Consulting. for the solar power projects for each operating
location. The company is progressing with
As part of the project, we have also signed
The UK-based renewable energy solutions agreements with ‘South African company selecting an EPC contractor whilst awaiting
company Xlinks is planning on connecting Co-Ash Resources, which has contacted finalisation of power purchase agreements
Morocco and the UK with a 3,800-kilometer French companies Satarem, Amre Holdings with ZETDC,” he said.
underwater electricity transmission cable. and Siemens for the project. We have also Meanwhile, RioZim has revealed that its
Xlinks is planning to build a 10.5 gigawatt partnered with the Dutch company Geo 2800MW Sengwa Power Station has been
(GW) of renewable energy complex in Power, which is expected to invest $50mn in constrained by funding issues. “The efforts
Morocco, to harvest both wind and solar solid waste to energy in Bulawayo. Covid-19 to secure financing to commence Phase 1 of
energy. It will link to a 5 GW/20 GWh makes it impossible for technical teams to the project were significantly hampered by
(gigawatt hours) storage unit in the country. move around,” says Graciano Takawira, the uncertainties presented by the Covid-19
In turn, this energy will be sold to the UK president of Pragma Leaf Consulting. pandemic,” said Mr Beebeejaun. He further
through the high-voltage direct current Read Also Urban sanitation, a major added that the company is focused on
(HVDC) transmission cable, connecting challenge for sustainable cities in Africa advancing the financing arrangements in
Morocco to several locations in Wales and The UK-based company had planned to order to make positive progress on the power
Devon, UK. start construction of the Bulawayo waste- station. RioZim, through Rio Energy Ltd,
Xlinks CEO Simon Morrish explained to-energy plant in 2020. The new challenge owns coal mining claims at Sengwa in Gokwe.
to pv magazine that the company is already is to complete the raising of the necessary The Sengwa Coal Deposit is situated in
in “discussions with Moroccan community funds for the project, amounting to $150mn. North Western Zimbabwe, 450km from
leaders and government regarding the The project will process 325 tonnes of waste Harare, with proven ore reserves in excess
exact sites of the solar farm and working on per day, generating 78,000-110,000 litres of of 525mn tonnes. The power station project
permitting with the relevant departments.” biodiesel per day, 60 m3 of biogas and 11.35 is based on a coal resource of 1.3bn tonnes,
Morrish explained that the total energy will MW of electricity. capable of generating up to 2,000MW of
consist of 7 GW for solar and 3.5 GW for power, almost as much as Zimbabwe’s total
wind capacity. SOL AR installed capacity.
The CEO hopes that the first 1.8 GW cable The proposed project envisages the
will be active in the beginning of 2027, while Construction of 178MW construction of a number of smaller power
the second cable should launch in 2029. The plants over the next ten years. In order
3,800-kilometer cable will consist of four RioZim solar power plant to to achieve this goal, RioEnergy is in the
cables in total, and will make up the longest process bringing in technical partners to help
underwater power transmission link in the begin soon construct the power station.
world.
The underwater cable will cross the Construction of the 178MW RioZim solar
territorial waters of France, Portugal, and power plant in Zimbabwe is set to begin soon.
Spain, on four separate occasions. The company is currently in the process of
selecting an EPC (engineering, procurement
and construction) contractor for the project.
According to RioZim chairman Rashid
WASTE-TO -ENERGY Beebeejaun, the RioZim solar power plant
project will commence once an energy
Zimbabwe waste-to-energy

project delayed again

The Bulawayo solid waste-to-energy project in
Zimbabwe is delayed again, after many false
starts. This time the delay is caused by travel
restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
According to Graciano Takawira,
president of Pragma Leaf Consulting (Pvt),
the company developing the project, only the
basic engineering design (FEED) has been
completed. This part of the project involves
updating the characterisation of the waste in
Bulawayo City, as well as the environmental
impact assessment (EIA) of the future facility.
“To complete this study, we were obliged
to engage the Department of Chemical
Engineering at the National University of

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 22•April•2021