Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has invited bids for transmission lines to carry power from the 1,870MW Gilgel Gibe 3 hydropower project, being built by Italy’s Salini Costruttori on the Omo River. The project will involve the construction of 400kV lines from Gilgel Gibe 3 to Wolayta Sodo, Wolayta Sodo to the 420MW Gilgel Gibe 2 hydropower plant, and Wolayta Sodo to Addis Ababa. Earlier this year EEPCo tendered for the supply of electro-mechanical equipment for the new plant. Contact: EEPCo Purchasing Division, Ground Floor, De Gaulle Square, Piazza, Addis Ababa. Tel: +251 11-1560027. Fax: +251 11-1550822. www.eepco.gov.et
MOROCCO: ONE issues Safi independent power plant prequalification notice
Office National de l’Electricite (ONE) has issued an international invitation for the submission of interest in a 1,200-1,320MW BOOT coal-fired electric power plant, to be located on an undeveloped coastal site 15km south of Safi. Deadline for interested parties: 09.00 (Moroccan time), 11 July.Click here to download a copy of the full announcement.
MOROCCO: ONE issues solar projects prequalification notice
Office National de l’Electricite has issued international invitations for the submission of interest in three solar independent power projects. The Ouarzazate (50-100 MW), Boujdour (5-10 MW), and Dakhla (1-3 MW) projects form part of ONE’s Chourouk Initiative to achieve 500MW of solar power generation by 2015. Each project will be structured under a Build Own OperateTransfer (BOOT) scheme with a long term offtake agreement to be entered into with ONE. Commercial operation for the projects is scheduled for December 2010. Deadline for interested parties: 09.00 (Moroccan time), 21 July Tel: +212 22 66 80 21/66 82 83 /66 83 64 Web: www.one.org.ma
SOUTH AFRICA : Eskom issues request for proposals for generation capacity
While no decisions are expected until after September’s elections, major reforms are in the pipeline for the state power utility to enable it to deliver the power produced from planned new generation projects, writes François Misser, recently in Luanda. more
BOTSWANA
High costs force Mmamabula downsizing
Soaring engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) costs have necessitated a change in plan for the first 2,100-2,400MW phase of the giant Mmamabula coal-to-power project, seen as a key to alleviating the growing power shortfalls in southern Africa. The lead sponsor, CIC Energy Corporation, hopes that a smaller phase one scheme can still go ahead, and will provide a revised project plan in the coming weeks, but the news is certain to add a fresh tinge of pessimism to observers of South Africa’s struggling power sector. more
SOUTH AFRICA
IPSA Group plans bigger market share
The UK’s IPSA Group, which last year became the first independent power generator to supply electricity in South Africa, says it is seeking to gain a “significant share” of the country’s power generation market within the next five years. more
KENYA
Tariffs rise, KPLC to split
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has raised tariffs for the first time since 1999. Tariffs vary depending on the consumer category, but the ERC said they represented an average increase of about 24%. Since July 2006, the government has been subsidising Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) by paying 60 cents per unit of electricity supplied by KenGen, but this subsidy ended on 30 June. more
DJIBOUTI
IFC, Icelanders invest in geothermal
The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and Iceland’s Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) have signed an agreement for the exploration and development of geothermal resources at Lake Assal (AE 132/9). The agreement is the first funded by IFC InfraVentures, a new $100m fund to support development of infrastructure in the world’s poorest countries. more
GHANA
Big clients bear brunt of tariff rise
The Public Utilities Regulatory Committee (PURC) has announced a tariff increase for high voltage customers, particularly mining companies and steel mills. The increase is due to take effect on 1 July, with rates rising to a range of $0.20-$0.24/kWh, from $0.10/ kWh. more
SENEGAL
World Bank loan for Senelec
The World Bank board has approved an $80m credit to support the energy sector. The loan aims to restore Senelec’s financial equilibrium by the end of 2009, while supporting policy measures aimed at ensuring that the electricity and downstream hydrocarbons sectors develop and operate in an efficient and transparent way with adequate governance. more
CAMEROON
World Bank loan, Lom Pangar deal
The World Bank board has approved a $65m loan for the Energy Sector Development Project, and Rio Tinto Alcan has signed an agreement with the state Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) to provide technical assistance in the development of the Lom Pangar dam . more
The second half of African Energy’s Southern power update takes in Mozambique, whose investor-friendly government is looking at a range of potential projects; Namibia, which is still trying to work out how to encourage IPPs and make the Kudu gas-to-power scheme work; and Zambia, whose commodity price-driven economic upturn is providing more resources for projects. It also includes Zimbabwe, whose slide into political chaos has been reflected in enormous pressures on its utilities, despite help from Namibia and South Africa. Regional projects involving these SAPP/SADC members were included in part one of this Update, in African Energy issue 141. more
Issue 141 • 20 June, 2008
With Egypt and Morocco developing big wind power projects, North Africans are seriously embracing renewables
The number of wind power schemes built, under way or planned in Egypt and Morocco points to the enthusiasm with which North African electricity consumers have embraced renewables. Jon Marks reports from Marrakech on the upturn in renewables projects’ fortunes. more
Pressure grows on resources producers to export and supply fast-growing local markets
Data published in the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy, and rendered into graphic form by African Energy’s David Burles, show how oil, gas and coal production is being increased by the continent’s major resources producers, but also how demand for these inputs is rising from increased domestic consumption as African economies grow. more
UN atlas records environmental crisis in glorious technicolor
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has produced an atlas of ‘before and after’ satellite images documenting environmental change in Africa. Some of the changes, like the shrinking of Lake Chad, now one tenth of its size 40 years ago, and falling water levels in Lake Victoria, are already well recorded, while others, like the disappearance of glaciers in Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains vital to the region’s water supply, are less widely known. Africa, Atlas of Our Changing Environment looks at the issues affecting each country, and an uncomfortably large number of these involve the negative effects of large dams, followed by the depredations of the oil and forestry industries. more
ALGERIA: GE, Iberdrola to build Koudiet Eddraouch
Shariket Kahraba Koudiet Eddraouch Spa, owned by state companies Sonelgaz and Sonatrach, has awarded a consortium of GE Energy and Spain’s Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion a contract for the construction of the Koudiet Eddraouch power plant in El-Tarf province, 700km east of Algiers. more
TUNISIA: Rades IPP seeks expansion
Independent generator Carthage Power Company (CPC), which operates the Rades II power plant in the seventh year of a 20-year build-own-operate concession, wants to install a third – and possibly a fourth – gas turbine at its Tunis plant, according to managing director Constantin Haddad. more
WEST / REGIONAL: WAPP reports progress
Pre-investment studies for an interconnection running between Han in Ghana, Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso and Sikasso and Bamako in Mali are due to be completed by end-July, the West African Power Pool (WAPP) said. more
SOUTH AFRICA: Tariff hike is well below ‘credit watch negative’ Eskom’s target
Slightly later than expected, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has sought to placate the very different, often conflicting, demands of building SA’s economy according to international benchmarks and protecting millions of poor consumers from the worst depredations of transition to a hard-knuckles market economy. more
Uganda earmarks funds for Karuma work to start
Despite falling water levels and rising costs for its long-mooted hydro projects, Uganda is desperate for power and has earmarked funds in the 2008-09 budget to start work on the Karuma dam on the River Nile. more
MADAGASCAR: EIB loan for Andekaleka
The European Investment Bank has agreed a loan of E24.5m to state power utility Jiro Sy Rano Malagasy (Jirama) to finance the doubling of capacity of Madagascar’s largest hydropower plant. more
JOSEPH MAKOJU: Electricity advisor fallen from the Rock? more
Southern power update: Angola-Malawi and regional projects
African Energy’s latest update table of southern African projects shows an upturn in work across the region, with Angola spending more of its windfall oil income on reconstruction.
Part one of the table covers schemes from Angola to Malawi, plus regional projects. Mozambique to Zimbabwe will be published in the next edition of African Energy. more
MAP: Southern Africa’s electricity infrastructure and interconnections
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