France-headquartered renewable energy developer, Sonnedix, has finalised details of an 86MW PV power plant to be built in South Africa. The project, which falls under the third window of South Africa’s flagship renewable energy procurement programme, will be built in the country’s Northern Cape province. Sonnedix said in a statement today that it had completed all the main contracts for the project, including financing agreements.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 7th January 2015

Musoma — AS part of the government's rural electrification plan, a total of 45 villages in Mara Region will be connected to power through the Rural Energy Agency (REA), it has been announced. The announcement was made by the Minister of Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, who is on a six-day tour of the region to inspect implementation of the second phase of rural electrification projects undertaken by REA and Tanzania Electric.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

Kenya is to begin exporting 30MW of power to Rwanda via Uganda by July 2015, Kenya Power announced on 10 December, following the signing of a wheeling agreement with Uganda Electricity Transmission Company and Rwanda Energy Group (REG), and a power purchase agreement between REG and Kenya Power. Under the agreements, REG will pay Kenya Power $0.12/kWh for the electricity, while UETCL will levy $0.028/kWh as a wheeling charge..... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

National electricity distributor, Kenya Power, has contracted a USD190 million (Shs.17 billion) long-term loan from the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to implement infrastructural development projects. Kenya Power’s Managing Director and CEO, Dr. Ben Chumo, said SCB emerged successful in an exercise carried out by the Company towards the end of last year through an Expression of Interest involving local and international financial.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

  Kenya Power has entered into an agreement to sell 30MW of power to Rwanda. Kenya Power, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL) and Rwanda Energy Group Limited (REG) have completed negotiations to facilitate the trade. The sale, expected to commence by July 2015, will be effected through the three entities’ already interconnected transmission grid, following the signing of a wheeling agreement between Kenya Power,.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

 South Africa for bidders to submit proposals to build coal-fired power plants as part of a string of initiatives launched this week aimed at ending chronic electricity shortages. Bidders will need to pay a nonrefundable R200 000 rand ($17 000) fee when they submit proposals to build, operate and maintain the new coal plants, according to a tender notice posted in national newspapers. The government will give the winners a power purchase.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

 Ethiopia’s Gilgel Gibe dam  project should be up and running by June this year, this is according to Azeb Asnake, CEO Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.   The project will be carried out along Ethiopia’s Omo River and is worth $1.8 billion. Gilgel Gibe project has began in 2008 and was to be fully functional three years later but it was delayed due to lack of funding as well as environmental issues; but it will.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 6th January 2015

The Governments of Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fund a USD 1.2 billion power inter-connector project that will connect the Eastern African Power Pool (EAPP) to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). tanzania-kenya-zambia-power-gridThe Zambia-Kenya-Tanzania (ZTK) power interconnector project is scheduled to be launched at the end of 2015 or in early 2016 and is expected to be completed by.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 31st December 2014

 GHANA is making frantic efforts to finance a plan aimed at paying for gas supplied to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the power producers in the event of a cash fall, local daily newspaper reported. This is part of plans to avert rising power crisis. According to the publication, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is working on a fall-back financing plan widely believed to boost the production of gas in the country. GNPC.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 29th December 2014

 East African governments have doubled their efforts to increase energy output, with several multi-million dollar projects on the cards. The aim is to meet rising demand as well as attract more investments, after the 2014 World Bank Ease of Doing Business report noted that low energy output remains a hurdle for investors. In the past two months, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya have announced a number of power upgrade projects. Rwanda recently.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 29th December 2014

Following the financial close of Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP), the first disbursement of funds pursuant to the financing agreements signed in March 2014 has been received. The Sh70 billion project is the largest single wind power project to be constructed in Africa and is to date, the largest private investment in the history of Kenya and the most complex and challenging project financing undertaken in the renewable energy space in.... Read more »

Posted on : Monday , 29th December 2014

 The project, which was signed in Livingstone, Zambia last week on December 15, 2014, is set for completion in phases between 2016 and 2018. “By doing so power tariffs would be reduced, our people would now get cheaper power possibly below $0.10 cents per unit,” Prof Sospeter Muhongo, Tanzania’s Minister for Energy and Minerals told East African Business Week. Some of the development partners to the project which.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 24th December 2014