THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - AUGUST 2017 8 International News Wind wakes up in Saudi Arabia G20 lacks climate stewardship, says new index Nuclear plant ALIGN YOUR BRAND WITH UGANDA’S ENERGY SECTOR Siân Crampsie Saudi Arabia is preparing to host its first utility-scale wind energy project. The Kingdom has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for a 400 MW wind farm in Dumat Al Jandal, in the Al Jouf region. It has also seen the commissioning of its first wind turbine, a GE unit installed at a Saudi Aramco facility in Turaif, in the northwest of the country. 13 – 14 SEPTEMBER 2017 Serena Hotel, Kampala, Uganda Uganda aims to grow installed capacity from 868MW to 4100MW by 2030. This is your opportunity to showcase your capabilities to project managers Secure face time with key decision makers in the Ugandan energy sector, including utilities and government PART OF UGANDA’S 17TH ENERGY WEEK With the support of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development Secure your place today. Please contact Jason Zeelie E: jason.zeelie@spintelligent.com I T: + 27 21 700 3557 Also visit www.future-energy-uganda.com The RFQ for the Dumat Al Jandal facility was opened in mid-July by the Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources. The RFQ window will close on August 10 and the qualified companies will then proceed to the request for proposals (RFP) stage. That process is scheduled to start on August 29 and close in January 2018. The Dumat Al Jandal wind project is part of round one of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), the other part being the 300 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme in Sakaka, for which an initial tender was issued in April 2017. The winning bid for the solar project will be announced in November 2017. “The release of Dumat Al Jandal’s wind project RFQ, and upcoming RFP next month, ensures that we remain on course to tender 700 MW in round one this year,” said Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources. NREP seeks to have 3.45 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020 and a total of 9.5 GW by 2023. The wind and solar projects will secure 20-year and 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs), respectively. The Saudi Aramco wind turbine, a GE 2.75-120 unit, will provide energy directly to the firm’s Turaif facility, enabling a reduction in the consumption of diesel at the plant, and will also feed energy to the grid. Abdulkarim Ghamdi, Saudi Aramco executive director for Power Systems, said that the turbine “was the start of something new” in the country. “Wind energy offers potential to provide new energy in the kingdom’s energy mix and enhance power generation efficiency, thus delivering on the core objectives of Vision 2030,” Ghamdi said. Countries in the G20 are still a long way from demonstrating responsible stewardship in the area of climate protection, a new report has found. The G20 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), produced by Germanwatch, ranks countries based on their emissions, energy use, renewable energy and climate policy. Its latest report shows that the USA and Saudi Arabia trail far behind countries such as Italy, Brazil and France in climate stewardship. It also states that no country in the G20 is on track to meet the Paris climate goals. “It’s time for the world’s richest economies, accounting for over 80 per cent of global emissions, to step up their game on climate action,” said Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director of Climate Action Network (CAN), copublisher of the study. “If we are to realise the goals of the Paris Agreement we need countries to get down to the business of serious implementation, to come prepared to assess their collective progress in 2018 and trigger a process to increase climate ambition by 2020.” Germanwatch said that Italy is the unexpected leader in the G20 ranking, while Brazil is placed second. Key factors in Italy’s success are its downward trend in per capital greenhouse gas emissions and strong growth in renewables. China is ranked 12th due to its immense growth in energy use and emissions in the years up to 2014. The USA occupies second to last place because there are no recognisable attempts at national level to tackle either the very high CO2 emissions or the immense energy use per capita. China’s ranking is expected to improve because of its efforts to limit the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. “Particularly promising are the developments in some of the major emerging economies such as Brazil or India,” said Prof. Niklas Höhne from the NewClimate Institute. “Brazil has achieved crucial advancements in reducing deforestation over the last years, which need to be kept going within the present challenging political debate. “India is seeking to skip traditional stages of development by favouring renewables over coal and electric vehicles over gasoline and diesel. Both countries are moving in the right direction – yet climate policies and international climate finance needs further support.” progresses in UAE The construction of the first nuclear power plant in the UAE is 75 per cent complete, according to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC). ENEC has announced that construction of units 3 and 4 at the Barakah nuclear energy plant is now more than 50 per cent complete. ENEC has now set in place unit 3’s Reactor Containment Building (RCB) liner dome section, installing the roof of the structure which now houses the Reactor Vessel (RV), a statement said. Unit 3 is now more than 62 per cent complete and work to pour the concrete and complete the RCB is progressing. The RCB is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, roughly a year after similar work was concluded on Unit 2, the statement said. The Barakah facility is scheduled for completion in 2020, with construction having started in 2012. A Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) led consortium is building the four 1400 MW nuclear reactors, which will provide around one quarter of the UAE’s electricity needs when complete. AfDB supports Ngozi Tanzania is taking a step forward in its plans to transform its economy with the development of a geothermal energy project, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said. The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has approved funding of $21.7 million to finance the country’s efforts to exploit its geothermal energy capacity. The project is a key part of Tanzania’s efforts to develop an affordable and sustainable source of baseload energy to underpin its economy. The funds will support development of the Ngozi geothermal steam field in southwestern Tanzania. The project will showcase the potential for the application of geothermal energy in the country, AfDB said. “We are assisting in the first step in the transformation of Tanzania’s energy sector, a transformation that is being built on a sustainable energy source,” said Leandro Azevedo, AfDB’s Senior Climate Finance Officer and CIF Coordinator. “Developing geothermal capacity in Tanzania is an essential part of that transformation and we hope that this project’s success will lead downstream to the installation of a 100 MW power plant and help create the conditions for the development of other geothermal sites in the country,” he added. The project involves conducting exploratory test drilling and installing the required steam gathering infrastructure in the Ngozi geothermal site. The project is funded under the CIF’s Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) and will receive $5 million as a loan and $16.73 million in grant resources to be implemented by AfDB. This SREP highly concessional finance will be instrumental in mitigating the high-risk nature of geothermal prospection and field development. Ultimately, the project is also expected to have transformational effects not only on Tanzania and its energy sector but also more broadly in the African Rift Valley region. The proposed 100 MW Ngozi plant would generate 823 GWh per year, improving Tanzania’s energy security by reducing its reliance on imports from neighbouring countries. The project will also contribute downstream to capital mobilisation from both public and private investors by creating an enabling environment for unlocking both public and private funds, AfDB said. The total contribution expected from private sector is estimated at $300 million. n RFP will open in August n Saudi Aramco commissions first turbine n Up to 100 MW at Ngozi n Plant will be template for the future
Energy Industry Times July 2017
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