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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
Masdar to develop 2GW of renewables in Tanzania
TANZANIA
ABU Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar has signed a joint development agree- ment (JDA) with Tanzania Electric Supply Com- pany Ltd (TANESCO ) to develop projects with a total capacity of up to 2,000MW in the East African country.
TANESCO, the sole provider of electricity in Tanzania, is looking to add more renewable energy to the national grid to help meet growing demand as the government works to achieve an electrification rate of 75% by 2035.
The JDA envisages the establishment of a co-owned joint venture, through which the com- panies are initially targeting the development of renewable energy projects with a capacity of about 600MW, starting with solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind. The JV will further explore the development of projects with a total capacity of at least 2,000MW.
“The signing of this agreement demonstrates Masdar’s commitment to the Tanzanian market and to the nation’s energy transition, supporting the target to reach 5,000 MW capacity by 2025,” Abdulla Zayed, head of business development & investment at Masdar said.
“We look forward to working with TAN- ESCO to develop this ambitious program and to provide a clean pathway for growth for Tanzania.”
Masdar had more than doubled the capacity of its renewable energy portfolio over the past two years, the company said in February, “today investing or committing to invest in projects with a combined value of more than $20bn”. The capacity of projects in operation or under devel- opment is close to 14,000MW, and combined they would displace almost 19.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.™
Ghana set reveal nuclear project
GHANA
GHANA’S government is set to announce the site and contractor of a new nuclear power plant (NPP) that would come online in 2030 in line with a wider industrialisation target, the Busi- ness & Financial Times reports.
Earlier in July, Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), the project organisation set up to manage Ghana’s first NPP and designated to be its even- tual owner and operator, submitted a report to the cabinet on four prospective sites and six contractors (from different countries) following feasibility studies for review and approval.
Prof. Stephen Yaoah, NPG executive director told the B&FT that Ghana has already evaluated the prospective contractors’ responses that came in response to requests for technical documen- tation through their respective countries’ diplo- matic missions.
He said that NPG experts are engaging the Ministry of Energy and once that process is completed, a memo will be sent to the cabinet for consideration.
Prof. Yamoa said that, drawing on his expe- rience in Egypt and the United Arab Emirate
(UAE), he believes it would cost Ghana between $6bn-8bn to build a large nuclear power plant and between $2bn-5bn to build a small one.
Africa has only one commercial nuclear power station, South Africa’s Koeberg plant near Cape Town, but Egypt has broken ground on the construction one due to online in 2030, and sev- eral other countries on the continent have plans in the works.
Egypt and Russia signed a deal to build the facility in 2015, and Moscow is reportedly lend- ing Cairo $25bn for the project, covering 85% of the cost. Nigeria opened bidding in March for a 4,000MW plant. Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom has already signed coopera- tion agreements with Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia, which also have nuclear ambitions.
Ghana received a green light from the Inter- national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to use nuclear energy for the production of electricity in 2014. Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has said that it is ready to accommodate power provided by an NPP when fully operational.™
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