THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - OCTOBER 2018
Nuclear cast aside in
Falling technology costs and slowing electricity demand has forced South
Africa’s government to abandon plans for new nuclear capacity.
The US Trade and Development
Agency (USTDA) is to support Ethiopia’s
bid to grow its geothermal energy
sector with a grant for a feasibility
study.
The study will support the first phase
of the 520 MW Tulu Moye geothermal
project in Ethiopia.
USTDA will grant an undisclosed
sum to TM Geothermal Operations
Pvt Ltd Co (TMGO), an Ethiopiabased
firm owned by infrastructure
fund manager Meridiam and sector
specialist Reykjavik Geothermal
(RG). TMGO will coordinate the feasibility
study for the first 50 MW project
as part of Tulu Moye. The study
itself will be conducted by US firm
Delphos International Ltd.
Ethiopian Electric Power inked implementation
deals and power purchase
agreements (PPAs) in December
2017 to enable the private sector to
develop the Corbetti and Tulu Moye
geothermal projects totalling 1 GW.
According to USTDA, the total
estimated private investment in these
projects will exceed $4 billion.
Ethiopia is seeking to quadruple
power generating capacity by 2020 and
expand power sales abroad. The government
is also aiming for 100 per cent
electrification of households by 2025,
up from around 30 per cent currently.
Electricity demand in Ethiopia is
growing rapidly, largely due to the
growth of the industrial and agricultural
sectors. Installed capacity is currently
around 4.3 GW.
A Chinese consortium led by Dongfang
Electric will help Egypt to add
6000 MW to its electricity grid with
the construction of a new coal fired
power plant.
Dongfang has signed a general contract
with Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity
and Renewable Energy for the
6000 MW Hamrawein clean coal
plant – set to be the largest of its kind
in the world. It will collaborate with
Shanghai Electric Group as well as
local firm Hassan Allam Construction
to build the project.
The Chinese companies bid $4.4 billion
to build the plant, beating a rival
bid from Orascom Construction,
Elsewedy Electric and Mitsubishi Hitachi
Power Systems, state news outlet
Al Ahram reported.
The plant will use ultra-supercritical
technology and will also be equipped
with environmental technologies to
reduce emissions, Chinese state media
reported.
Egypt is also continuing efforts to add
renewable and low carbon sources of
generation to its grid.
The Ministry of Electricity is starting
negotiations with Chinese company
Sinohydro to establish a pumped storage
hydroelectricity plant in Ataka
with an output of 2400 MW.
Local media reported that the Exim
Bank of China will finance the hydro
plant, which is likely to cost $2.4
billion.
Last month Egypt’s New and Renewable
Energy Authority and the
Spanish energy giant TSK Grupo
signed a contract to set up a 26 MW
photovoltaic plant in Kom Ombo in
Aswan, Upper Egypt.
The PV plant will cost €20 million
to build and will cover an area of 500
000 m2. It is due to start operating in
2019.
The project will be funded by the
French Agency for Development
through a soft loan of €40 million,
with the rest of the loan to be channelled
into financing other energy
projects in Egypt.
The agreement is part of a strategy
by Egypt’s New & Renewable Energy
Authority and Electricity Ministry to
diversify energy sources, increase renewable
energy use, and reduce the
consumption of traditional energy.
The move is also part of Egypt’s renewable
energy plan to produce 20 per
cent of all energy production through
renewable sources by 2022, and 37 per
cent by 2035.
■ Talks between Saudi Arabia’s
ACWA Power and the Egyptian Ministry
of Electricity over building the
2250 MW Dairut power plant have
been stopped, according to local media.
The two parties have been negotiating
over a power purchase agreement
(PPA) for the gas-fired project, but
have failed to reach a deal, Al Borsa
newspaper stated, citing government
sources.
EBRD
supports
Afken
ambitions
Ethiopia studies geothermal
feasibility
Chinese firms to build
Turkey’s Afken Renewables will draw 6 GW Hamrawein coal plant
on the assistance of the European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) to build new renewable energy
facilities.
Afken has announced plans to build
13 wind and solar power plants in Turkey,
and has agreed a $102 million
financing package with the EBRD to
support the investments.
Afken said in a written statement that
it would provide $167 million of the
$530 million investment required. A
number of other banks, including
Isbank, Vakifbank, Garanti Bank, Yapi
Kredi Bank and KfW IPEX-Bank, are
also supporting the venture.
Afken’s plans include four new wind
farms and nine solar PV plants with a
combined capacity of 327 MW.
“The new financing demonstrates the
EBRD’s commitment to the Turkish
economy and confidence in the fundamental
momentum behind the global
shift to renewable energy,” the EBRD
said in a statement.
Akfen Renewables, or Akfen Yenilenebilir
Enerji as it is known in
Turkey, owns and operates wind, solar
and hydropower plants. The EBRD
and the IFC, a private sector arm of
the World Bank, are minority shareholders
in the company with a 15.98
per cent stake each.
The company is now investing in
four new wind farms with a total capacity
of 242 MW: Üçpınar (99 MW),
Kocalar (26 MW) and Hasanoba (51
MW) in Çanakkale, a province in
northwestern Turkey on the Dardanelles
Strait, and Denizli (66 MW) in
the eponymous province in the south
west of the country, according to the
statement.
For nine new solar photovoltaic
plants in five locations across Turkey,
the EBRD is lending up to $52 million.
The combined capacity of the new solar
PV plants will be 85 MW.
“With the projects that we will realise,
we are taking firm steps towards
our aim to reach a total installed capacity
of 1000 MW in clean energy generation
by 2020. We will continue to
make new investments and potential
acquisitions, especially in the wind
power sector, in the forthcoming period,”
said Akfen Renewables CEO
Kayrıl Karabeyoğlu.
In line with its renewable energy
action plan developed by the country’s
Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources with the support of the
EBRD, Turkey aims to install 27 GW
of non-hydro renewable generation
capacity by 2023, 20 GW of which is
expected to be wind and 5 GW licensed
solar.
new SA plan
8 International News
Siân Crampsie
South Africa has favoured the expansion
of renewable energy, natural gas
and hydropower over nuclear energy
in the latest version of its Integrated
Resources Plan (IRP).
The government unveiled the muchdelayed
draft IRP document, which
outlines plans for the growth of and
investment in the country’s electricity
sector.
The IRP is subject to consultation but
appears to confirm that earlier plans to
invest in new nuclear power plants in
South Africa have been abandoned.
It also shows that South Africa could
add 5670 MW of new photovoltaic
(PV) capacity to its grid by 2030, and
8100 MW of new wind capacity. It also
indicates that electricity demand in the
country has been declining.
“This approach… provides the necessary
policy certainty while creating
the space for all of us to engage in detail
on the impending energy transition
and the options available to us as South
Africa,” Energy Minister Jeff Radebe
said.
Radebe also told parliament that the
decision to drop nuclear energy was
based on lower electricity demand
and falling costs of other generating
technologies.
South Africa’s existing IRP calls for
the development of 9600 MW of new
nuclear energy capacity and over the
last five years the South African government
made some progress towards
implementing new projects, including
signing cooperation agreements with
Russia and France.
In 2015 the government issued a request
for proposals for 9600 MW of
nuclear capacity but in 2017 a court
ruling effectively declared the new
build programme invalid.
The new draft IRP also calls for the
addition of 1000 MW of new coal capacity
by 2030, 2500 MW from hydropower
and 8100 MW from natural gas.
With the proposed new capacity additions,
wind would account for 15 per
cent of the installed capacity in 2030,
and PV ten per cent. The mix would
also include one per cent, or 600 MW,
of concentrated solar power, and four
per cent hydro. Coal would have the
largest share of the generating capacity
mix, with 46 per cent.
n 6 GW ultra-supercritical plant planned
n Progress made on hydro and renewables projects