The business community in the region has thrown its weight behind efforts aimed at promoting and developing the renewable energy sub-sector.   Fiona Uwera, the East African Business Council (EABC) technical liaison officer for Rwanda, said it is essential for the region to invest in renewable energy resources to reduce deficit.   "The potential of biofuels in the region is huge... However, this and other renewable energy.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 21st August 2014

The Global Environment Facility - United Nations Development Programme (GEF-UNDP) said it would spend N21 million on the provision of sustainable energy-related projects in selected communities in Nasarawa State.   The National Coordinator of GEF-UNDP, Mr Etiosa Uyigue, said this at Karu, Nasarawa State in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).   Uyigue told NAN that the project would be executed in collaboration with.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 21st August 2014

 The World Bank Group has committed 5 billion dollars in new technical and financial support for energy projects in six African countries; Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.  Some of these have vast amounts of untapped geothermal resources that could greatly benefit from this funds. World Bank Group President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, said the new financial commitment was urgently needed to generate more electricity for.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 21st August 2014

 BLESSED with the potential to generate over 4,000 megawatts of electricity from geothermal sources, the government has formed a company to steer the country into effectively and beneficially tapping it.   Operating as a subsidiary of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company started operations in July this year, according to the Energy and Minerals Minister, Professor Sospeter.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 21st August 2014

 A new online platform is being launched in a bid to link developers of small-scale African energy projects directly with investors and technical advisers with the aim of accelerating the deployment of such projectsacross the continent.   Known as GENHUB-Africa, the initiative has received the backing of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Planning and Coordinating Agency and is due to be formally launched by the end.... Read more »

Posted on : Thursday , 21st August 2014

 GREEN Rock Energy's first phase of on-site exploration due diligence at Mahenge North Graphite Project in Tanzania is due to be finalised this week.     A total of 570 metres of trenching was completed, consisting of 400 metres of new trenches across Epanko North lodes and 170 metres of cleaning and reviewing historic trenches on these lodes.     Mapping and trenching indicates that graphite mineralisation within.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 20th August 2014

 Development finance institutions (DFIs) remain the big beasts in developing infrastructure and other major projects in much of Africa. The ‘blending’ of public and private finance has become a preoccupation for traditional donors looking to leverage their grants and loans to produce bigger funding flows to kick-start the continent’s infrastructure revolution, to catch up with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)’s macroeconomic.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 20th August 2014

A total of 443,254 new customers were connected to the national electricity grid in the 2013/2014 financial year, the Energy ministry has told a parliamentary committee.   At the same time, the Rural Electrification Authority plans to have 6,065 primary schools supplied with electricity by the end of this financial year.   REA acting managing director Ng’ang’a Munyu told the committee that the plan was to have 5,000.... Read more »

Posted on : Wednesday , 20th August 2014

 After eight years in the pipeline, the 300MW Lake Turkana wind power project finally signed financing agreements worth €498m ($687m) on 24 March. The much-publicised project, described as the largest private investment in Kenyan history, has the support of a wide range of financiers, led by a revitalised African Development Bank (AfDB), but the time taken to reach financial close highlights the difficulty, even in private sector.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 19th August 2014

 Irish-registered Kibo Mining is in the early stages of planning a 300-350MW mine-mouth plant at the Rukwa coal field in the Mbeya region. Chief executive Louis Coetzee told African Energy the proposed open-cast mine method and on-site development should keep generation costs low, with power then fed into the national grid to help tackle Tanzania’s growing power supply deficit. “It is impossible to deny the business opportunity.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 19th August 2014

 A new investor consortium plans to develop a series of small-scale distributed renewable energy projects in the southern Morogoro region. Kastan Mining announced on 26 May that it had entered into a consortium with Indonesia-based Continental Energy Corporation, Pan African Management and Development Company (Panafra), a US-based infrastructure fund and asset manager, and local energy group, Kitonga Power Electric Company (Kepoco), to form.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 19th August 2014

  Ministry of Energy and Petroleum cabinet secretary Davis Chirchir has said that negotiations with the African Development Bank (AfDB) for a KSh60bn ($680m) loan for a project to expand access to electricity from 32% to 70% over five years are at an advanced stage and should be completed by December. Disbursement of the first Sh12bn instalment is anticipated in this financial year. Speaking at a media briefing for transmission and.... Read more »

Posted on : Tuesday , 19th August 2014