Page 12 - AfrElec Week 28 2021

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and give us enough time to launch the evaluation criteria such as social impact, Power, which itself is a subsidiary of United
long-term infrastructure procurements and partnerships, sustainability, expansion Arab Emirates investment company Al
investments needed to have a sustainable potential or financial viability. Nowais Investments, built the project.
energy supply,” says Lauren Hermanus, a Each of the projects in this new edition, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed is located just
doctoral candidate at the University of Cape which received 115 applications, “has financial over 250km from Togo’s capital city, Lomé,
Town in South Africa, and founder of Adapt, a support between 25,000 and 100,000 euros” and it is expected to generate energy of almost
sustainable development network. and EDP estimates that its development may 90,255 MWh per annum. This will be enough
“Gas is something that can be used to have a direct positive impact on the lives of to power approximately 158,333 Togolese
balance a renewable energy-based system, 16,000 people and also indirectly benefit more houses every year. Of the energy produced,
for example, where there is variability in the than 15,000 people in these regions. 9% will go to the local Blitta distribution
system due to reliance on sun or wind.” “The A2E Fund thus continues the network, providing enough energy to meet
However, Thandile Chinyavanhu, a climate programme started in 2018, adding since then the areas energy demands.
and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, a total support of 1mn euros to 13 projects The plant, which will be operated by
finds the deal’s proposed 20-year contract that contributed to improve the lives of 65,000 AMEA Togo Solar for 25 years, will help
problematic. Togo to meet its $8bn 2018-2022 National
“That would lock us into a higher Development Plan (NDP), which seeks to
emissions trajectory until beyond 2040 achieve access to electricity for all by 2030.
without a clear plan for renewable energy SOL AR The NDP also aims to boost Togo’s energy
procurement,” she says. “Instead of renting out generated from renewable sources to 50%.
foreign-run power ships, which will ultimately Togo launches 50 MW solar Concessional loans from the West African
leave us in 20 years’ time, we could be Development Bank and the Abu Dhabi Fund
investing in infrastructure that would provide PV project in record time for Development provided financial support
jobs for South African youth.” for the solar project.
Over 41 per cent of South Africans aged A utility-scale renewable energy project
25-35 are currently without work, according has been launched in Togo, having been
to South Africa-based statistics agency Stats developed in record-breaking time and at the
SA. Total unemployment in the country is at a hands of renewable energy developer AMEA ACCESS TO POWER
record 7.2mn. Power.
The 50-MW solar photovoltaic (PV) UN calls for collective
project, Togo’s first utility-scale renewable
energy project to be developed by an action to end energy
INVESTMENT independent power producer, reached
commercial operation within 18 months of poverty in Africa
EDP to support solar energy the power purchase agreement being signed. As President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria
Developed during the Covid-19 pandemic
projects in five African and in record-breaking time, the Togo solar launched the 1.52MWp Solar Microgrid Plant
to improve access to electricity in Abuja, the
PV project is also one of the largest solar PV
countries independent power producer developments in United Nations Deputy Secretary-General
Amina J. Mohammed, has reiterated that
West Africa.
Portugal’s diversified electricity producer, The name of the solar PV plant, Sheikh the challenges of energy poverty could be
EDP, through A2E Fund (Access to Energy), Mohamed Bin Zayed, has been inspired by surmounted by collective action.
will support seven solar energy projects in the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness “Together we can and must end energy
five African countries, including Angola and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. poverty and ensure a just, resilient, and
Mozambique, with funding of 500,000 euros, AMEA Togo Solar, a subsidiary of AMEA healthy world for all.” She said at the
the company announced on Thursday.
“The proposals selected in this third
edition of the fund now have an overall
funding of half a million euros, with which
EDP aims to promote access to clean energy
in more remote and deprived regions and thus
help combat energy poverty in these areas,”
the electric company said in a statement.
Solar energy is a common element of
the seven projects that EDP will support
in Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda
and Malawi and which cover refrigeration
systems for fish and fruit in local markets,
electrification of schools, health centres and
the supply of technologies to desalinate water.
Therefore, as in previous editions, the
A2E Fund focuses on initiatives in five
priority areas – education, health, agriculture,
companies and community – and values

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