Market News| Africa Business News

ContourGlobal sets innovation into action on Rwanda's Lake Kivu

For decades, Rwanda’s 80 km long Lake Kivu, with its high concentration of methane and carbon dioxide, has been seen as a risk due to its potential for toxic release. Extracting methane from the lake will now reduce environmental hazards while bringing electricity to millions of people. At the end of May 2015 US energy developing company ContourGlobal made a big step forward with its KivuWatt energy project by.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 3rd September 2016

East Africa: Ethiopia Envisions to Generate 17,000 MW From Renewable Energy

Environment and Climate Change Minister Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam said that Ethiopia looks to lead Africa in planing and constructing large hydro-power projects from solar, wind, geothermal and hydro power sources. Opening a two-day International Conference and Exhibition on Renewable Energy with the theme: 'Powering Resilience with Renewables' here yesterday, the Minister said by the end of 2020, Ethiopia planned to generate about.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 3rd September 2016

South Africa to become wind energy hot spot

As recently as 2012, South Africa had very little wind energy capacity—10 MW to be precise—and it had taken ten years to get to that point. Now, in 2016, it is right around 2 GW. That's something like a 1900% increase in four years by my (admittedly math-addled) brain. And according to consulting firm GlobalData, another 3 GW are due to be added in the next four years. This matters for all of us. According to.... Read more »

Posted on : Saturday , 3rd September 2016

EOI: EPCM contractor for Phase 1, Corbetti project, Ethiopia

In a release yesterday, Corbetti Geothermal PLC is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from interested parties for EPCM services for the first phase of the Corbetti geothermal project in Ethiopia, Africa. Corbetti Geothermal PLC is developing a geothermal power project in the Corbetti caldera in Ethiopia. The first phase of the project includes plans to install two (2) new wellhead backpressure turbines with total capacity.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 2nd September 2016

AKON PROVIDES ELECTRICITY TO 80 MILLION AFRICANS

Here in the west, Akon is a celebrity mostly known by his musical hits like “Locked Up,” “Lonely,” “Belly Dancer,” and “Ghetto” to name just a few. But his most amazing noteworthy achievement and legacy, which has not been mentioned much in the mainstream western media, is that through his entrepreneurial endeavors stemming from the success that he had through his music career, he.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 2nd September 2016

Rwanda: BBOXX Secures U.S$20 Million Funding to Expand Solar Off-Grid Connectivity

BBOXX, a leading global off-grid solar company, successfully closed a $20 million Series C investment on 30 August. The company has pioneered a distributed energy platform, comprising data-driven technology and a unique solar home system design to deliver off-grid energy on a utility scale. Since 2010, BBOXX has provided off-grid electricity to more than 350,000 people in 35 countries around the world. This latest round of.... Read more »

Posted on : Friday , 2nd September 2016

Preparation for geothermal drilling campaign under way in Ethiopia

Reported from Addis Ababa today, the Geological Survey of Ethiopia has announced that preparations are underway to begin drilling of 12 geothermal wells at Airobera, Alelobeda and Dubti areas in Afar Regional State. Tamiru Mersha, Communication Director at GSE, said drilling of the 325MW wells will begin this Ethiopian budget year. According to him, six wells will be drilled at Airobera and Alelobeda with the financial and.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 1st September 2016

SA-made drone set to disrupt power sector

A power line inspection drone designed by local robotics engineers could be the answer to Eskom’s power cut woes, and has already piqued the interest of overseas governments. Durban engineers Trevor Lorimer and Timothy Rowell built the first prototype as part of a master’s degree project to develop the power line robot, which is almost ready to be produced for industrial use. The duo worked with Eskom and the.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 1st September 2016

Kenya Power Rolls Out Sh22 Billion Plan to Tame Outages

Kenya Power will spend Sh22 billion to modernise electricity grid as a growing number of connections puts pressure on the current network. After three national outages in 2016, and a rising concern over the quality of power supply, the utility provider will now create an alternative network to take over when the current lines become faulty, effectively minimising blackouts. Dubbed the 2016-20121 Grid Development and.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 31st August 2016

Tanzania to sign 400MW power purchase deal with Ethiopia

Tanzanian authorities said on Saturday that the country will sign a 400 megawatts power purchase agreement with Ethiopia in the coming weeks. Felchesmi Mramba, Managing Director of state-owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company, said the official signing of the power pact will be preceded by a meeting in Arusha of 10 member states of the Eastern Africa Power Pool. Countries forming the Eastern Africa Power Pool are Kenya,.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 31st August 2016

Renewable energy project to connect 77,000 rural homes

Government efforts aimed at increasing supply of clean energy to power its green growth ambitions have gotten a boost, thanks to a new off-grid renewable energy support programme. Scaling up Off-Grid Energy in Rwanda (SOGER) aims to grow sustainable off-grid renewable energy markets by supporting private sector companies to deliver energy access to 77,000 people in poor rural areas, Herbert Nyaga, the country manager of Energy 4.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 30th August 2016

Ethiopia To Transfer Solar Energy Projects To Private Developers

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 30 (BERNAMA-NNN-ENA) -- Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has announced that it would transfer three solar energy generation sites to private developers. The sites have been identified and evaluation is underway to hand over the projects to private developers who win the tender floated for the purpose. CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) Engineer Azeb Asnake told ENA that sites were identified in Metahara,.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 30th August 2016