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Egypt to cut electricity consumption from mid-August
EGYPT
EGYPT’S prime minister Moustafa Madbouli has issued guidelines for a reduced electricity consumption initiative to free up domestically produced natural gas for export, local media report. The new guidelines, due to come into force next week, encompass the shutting off of all external lights on public buildings and squares, the enforcement of summer working hours at commercial malls and regulating cen- tral air-conditioning units at all buildings at 25 degrees Celsius.
The government plans to redirect the natural gas saved from electricity generation towards producing liquified natural gas (LNG) for
export. Last week, the government estimated the initiative could generate up to $450mn monthly in desperately needed foreign exchange reve- nues. Egypt’s international reserves have been on a precipitous fall over the past 6 months declin- ing from $40.98bn in January to $33.14bn in July, sufficient to cover four months of imports.
The energy savings plan is likely to awaken bitter memories of the rolling blackouts Egyp- tians experienced during the final days of former President Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted in a widely popular military coup led by then defence minister-cum-President Abdel Fatah El Sisi.™
Beacon Power Services raises $2.7mn for African grids
AFRICA
BEACON Power Services, an energy technology company providing solutions for energy grid management in Africa, has closed a seed round of $2.7mn, it has revealed.
The round, led by Seedstars Africa Ventures, is designed to help the country expand its oper- ations beyond its two current markets, Nigeria and Ghana
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 77% of the popula- tion has no access to electricity. Many of those with connections to the grid have regular power cuts, with the average daily supply in some cities failing to reach 12 hours. The majority of power companies in Africa are unable to provide cus- tomers with reliable and affordable electricity.
Beacon Power Services seeks to increase the reliability of grids through management ser- vices. Using an AI-enabled smart grid platform,
Adora, it connects to every node on the grid, monitoring for potential outages and network losses.
“Africa is home to the fastest growing cities in the world, but when most people think of energy access in Africa, they think of the rural areas with little or no access to electricity at all. However, it is impossible for Africa to develop without sig- nificantly improving electricity access and relia- bilityacrossitsmajorcities,”saidBimbolaAdisa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BPS.
“When we realized that solutions designed for mature markets fail to address the unique infrastructure challenges Africa faces, we devel- oped a tailored solution for power companies on the continent to improve daily grid supply of electricity. ™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 11•August•2022