Swiss giant ABB signs USD 900 m India electricity deal

Agence France Presse, 22 Dec 2011 | 11:21 PM

The agreement with India's Power Grid Corporation will see ABB deliver a transmission system to carry hydro-electric power from mountainous northeast India to the populous, central region of Agra, a statement said.

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Swiss engineering giant ABB said today it had signed a deal worth more than USD 900 million to develop India's electricity supply.

The agreement with India's Power Grid Corporation will see ABB deliver a transmission system to carry hydro-electric power from mountainous northeast India to the populous, central region of Agra, a statement said. 

When operating at full capacity, the link will be able to supply 90 million people with electricity 1,700 kilometres away.

"HVDC (ultrahigh-voltage direct current) technology is ideally suited for transmission of power, with minimum losses, over long distances and where space is limited," said Peter Leupp, head of ABB's Power Systems division.

"We are pleased to continue supporting India in the development of its power infrastructure." 

ABB said it will work on the North-East Agra transmission project with BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited).

The development costing USD 1.1 billion in total is scheduled to go into operation in 2015.

Courtesy of http://profit.ndtv.com

Investment in Africa’s renewable energy hits $3.6b

By Franca Ochigbo, Abuja 22/12/2011 00:07:00

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 Over $3.6 billion has been invested  in renewable energy in Africa, including Nigeria, with Egypt and Kenya taking centre stage. The  Bank of Industry (BoI) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has unveiled plans to boost Nigeria’s investment portfolio in renewable energy through private sector participation.
 

The Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Ms Evelyn Oputu who was represented by Mr Austin Jo-Madugu, General Manager, Operations, disclosed this during the First Renewable Energy Investment Forum in Abuja. She said renewable energy has a large potential for growth given the large gap between energy demand and supply and the enormous renewable energy options available to the country.
 

She said: “There was the urgent need to make renewable energy sector private driven to harness the abundance of renewable energy source in the country. The alternative energy programme tagged, Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE), is organised to create a forum to interface investors with project developers in the renewable energy sector.”

Ms Oputu, said most of the renewable energy projects embarked upon have been more from the governments at the federal, states or Local government levels. This is why the BoI in conjunction with the UNDP are making effort to feature Nigeria in global Renewable Energy investment portfolio through private sector investment.

“Already, investment in Renewable Energy across the globe has increased in recent time, moving from $33billion in 2004 to $211billion as at June, 2011. Africa also has its own share of the emerging market, with investment in alternative energy source, growing from $750million in 2004 to $3.6billion in 2011.

Also speaking, the UNDP Deputy Director, Nigeria, Jan Thomas Hiemstra, said, having worked with various government agencies, the attention of the UN agency, is directed at engaging private investors in Nigeria with a view to making them take active role in renewable energy development in the country.

The economic uncertainty in the country, he said is limiting the capacity of Nigerian banks to grant loans to investors in renewable energy sector.

Courtesy of http://www.thenationonlineng.net 

Concentrating solar power: U.S. Interior Department approves transmission for 150 MW Rice Project

Artist's rendering of the Rice Solar Energy Project

On December 8th, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) approved a transmission line, access road and substation on U.S. public lands to serve a 150 MW Rice Solar Energy Project, a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant planned for Riverside County, California.

The Rice project will be built on 5.71 square kilometers of previously disturbed, privately owned agricultural land near Blythe, California. The project's above-ground 230 kV transmission line will cross eight miles of land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and connect to the Western Area Power Administration's Parker-Blythe #2 transmission line.

“The Rice Solar Energy Project is yet another example of how we can strengthen local economies by generating good jobs and reliable power as we strive to become energy independent,” Secretary Salazar said. “I am pleased to approve this project as we move toward a sustainable clean energy future.”

Plant to include molten salt energy storage

The Rice CSP plant will utilize a solar power tower design, where a field of mirrors (heliostats) reflects sunlight onto a central receiver. The project will also include molten salt energy storage, which will enable it to produce power at night and during cloudy periods.

The DOI notes that the project has undergone extensive environmental review, including a requirement that developer SolarReserve LLC (Santa Monica, California, U.S.) fund the purchase of 6.16 square kilometers of land to compensate for impacts on desert tortoise habitat.

DOI approves 5 GW of solar generation in 24 months

The DOI notes that the approval of the transmission went through a new priority approach to approving renewable energy development on public lands, and was jointly addressed with the California Energy Commission.

The agency notes that because the development on private land is connected to the federal right of way for the transmission line, the environmental impact report and environmental assessment had to consider the impacts of the entire generation and transmission project, including the portions on private lands.

The agency notes that it has approved 22 major renewable energy projects in the past 24 months, including 13 commercial-scale solar energy facilities which will produce roughly 5 GW of electricity when complete.

The Rice project is one of nine large CSP projects approved by the California Energy Commission in the fall of 2010.

Courtesy: U.S. Department of the Interior; Image: SolarReserve LLC | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

Tanzania's EWURA set to review power purchase deals

Ewura Director General Haruna Masebu

The government through Water Utility Regulatory Authority (EWURA) is developing new guidelines on review of Power Purchase Agreements.

This follows enactment of Electricity Act of 2009 which among other things allows independent power producers to generate and sell electricity to TANESCO.

The EWURA Director General, Mr Haruna Masebu, said that the first draft guidelines would be out by early next year. Mr Masebu said at a national workshop on ‘power sector planning, procurement and Contracting ,’ in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that the guidelines would clearly set out how the review will be conducted.

He said the guidelines would also address EWURA’s role in initiating the procurement process of new power projects. “This means that before Tanesco commences procurement of new power generation plants, whether through a competitive process or via unsolicited bid, EWURA must review the proposal.

“The guidelines that we are currently drafting describe how EWURA will conduct the review and what criteria will be applied to make such decisions of the process”, he revealed. This new move is likely to set in a new dispensation in the sector following years of public sentiment against some Power Purchase Agreements, which are viewed as being a burden on the country’s power sector.

“EWURA is currently developing guidelines to clearly set out how the review will be conducted. These guidelines will present the criteria against which Power Purchase agreements will be assessed to ensure that costs are prudently incurred as the Electricity Act stipulates”, he said.

Wednesday’s workshop was aimed at improving the effectiveness of EWURA’s regulation of the electricity sector and discuss ways to improve power sector planning, procurement and contracting.

EWURA has responsibilities as approving the initiation of procurement of power projects, approving power purchase agreements for cost pass-through, issuing licences for electricity generation and regulating the tariffs charged by electricity suppliers to consumers.

But Mr Masebu said EWURA’s responsibility of approving the initiation of procurement and reviewing power purchase agreements were less understood. Section 25(4) of Electricity Act Cap 31 empowers EWURA to review power purchase agreements to determine whether the costs are reasonable.

Recommendations for improving power sector planning, procurement and contracting, will be used to inform the new guidelines.

Addressing the sector stakeholders from Tanzania and Kenya, the Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr Adam Malima, also revealed that a new electricity industry structure is to come in place when the energy ministry concludes a strategy it is currently working on.

He said it comes as part of the recommendations from the Joint Energy Sector Review Report released early this year. The report had acknowledged that creating good medium term power sector plans should avoid future emergency power situations in future.

He said credible power sector plans accurately forecast future demand and plan less cost options to meet this demand through generation that is diverse and reliable. The report found that the structure of the power sector matters for results.

It made reference to Tanesco, noting that the government needs to create clear incentives for the utility to perform well. “The Ministry is working towards coming up with a strategy for deciding on the appropriate electricity industry structure, ” he said.

He noted that they had taken time because of the various signals they had received when they wanted to unbundle and privatize the existing power utility. He also said that Tanzania, having been on observer status in the southern Africa power pool all the time, it is now looking ahead playing a more active role in interconnection projects with Zambia and Kenya and other East Africa Community countries.

He said Tanzania was already working towards increasing its internal power transfer capability by upgrading its backbone from 220Kv to 400Kv . He said that with the various electricity generation plans using coal (Mchuchuma 600MW, Ngaka 400Mw), natural gas (Kinyerezi 240Mw, Mtwara 300MW), wind (100MW) and hydro (Ruhudji 358MW and Stigle’s Gorge 2,100MW).

“I believe that with the above principles of procurement of power projects, Tanzania will quickly move from just over 1200Mw with a suppressed demand and lack of reserve margin, to become one with higher consumption and surplus power to sell in the electricity markets surrounding it, ” he said.

By ORTON KIISHWEKO, Tanzania Daily News

Sun appears to be setting on the solar energy sector in Germany

Decline in price of panels hits industry once expected to be a major business

REUTERS DECEMBER 17, 2011

When Tino Blaesi joined the solar sector gold rush, he thought his career was made. Seven years later, he is looking for a job outside the industry after his company slashed more than a third of its workforce in one day.

Workers in Germany's once booming solar energy industry face a shakeout of major proportions following declines in the price of solar panels over the past year.

Cuts in subsidies for solar energy, weaker demand for panels and fierce competition from cheaper Asian rivals are eating into what was once the world's biggest hub for the production of solar cells, taking the shine off an industry that was effectively born in Germany.

A decision by the German government earlier this year to phase out nuclear energy has done little to reignite the sector. The resulting power gap is likely to be filled by coal and gas rather than solar and wind energy.

"I don't want to work in this sector anymore, I'm sick and tired of it," said 44-year old Blaesi, who worked for seven years at Vogt Group, a German support services firm that deals with the planning and logistics for solar plants.

Berlin-based Solon, Germany's first solar energy company to go public, said on Tuesday it would file for insolvency, becoming Germany's biggest casualty so far.

SMA Solar, Germany's top solar group, said last month it would lay off up to 1,000 temporary workers by the end of the year, citing weak demand for its invertors, a vital piece of equipment in solar systems.

"It's the worst year the industry has seen in its short history," Andreas Haenel, chief executive of German solar company Phoenix Solar said.

The bloodletting is particu-larly bitter since most of the industry's jobs are located in the formerly communist eastern part of the country, a region that has suffered from an exodus of young, educated people for two decades.

Legislation introduced a decade ago by a centre-left coalition of Social Democrats and Greens led by then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder offered generous incentives and turned Germany into the world's largest market for solar panels, sparking thousands of startups, some of which became global leaders.

But the incentives, because they were focused on energy production rather than panel manufacturing, also benefited cheaper Asian rivals, which elbowed their way into the market and drove down prices.

The crisis has led to a wave of bankruptcies in the United States, notably of panel maker Solyndra LLC, showing that European solar players are not the only ones suffering from the industry glut.

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

ADF geothermal energy project to boost supply in Kenya

December 18, 2011

Kenya has substantial geothermal power potential, and has made this sector a priority in its 2030 vision, with the objective to develop 5000 MW of geothermal energy.

Menengai geothermal energy project will set the stage for investments that will help meet Kenya’s rapidly increasing demand for power and transform the country into a competitive clean energy economy.

On 14 December 2011 in Tunis African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Board of Directors, approved two financing vehicles to support the project. It will be financed through a loan of USD 124 million from African Development Fund (ADF) concessionary resources, and a loan and grant totaling USD 25 million from the scaling-up renewable energy program under the Climate investment funds for which AfDB Group is an implementing agency.

Kenya has substantial geothermal energy potential, and has made this sector a priority in its 2030 vision, with the objective to develop 5000 MW of geothermal energy. The Menengai field alone has a potential of up to 1600MW, and the AfDB Group support will help develop the steam field for generation capacity of up to 400 MW in a first phase, which is represents a 20% increase in installed capacity of the country. The project is being co-financed for a total cost of USD 503 million by a group of lenders including the French Development Agency, the European Investment Bank as well as the Government of Kenya. It will be completed by July 2016.

Following the approval, AfDB’s director for energy, environment and climate change department, Ms. Hela Cheikhrouhou revealed that this is the first ever project under the Climate investments funds dedicated to an African low income country to be approved by a multilateral development bank.

Ms. Hela Cheikhrouhou emphasized that when completed, the project will help trigger substantial increase in the provision of reliable, clean and affordable energy equivalent to the current consumption needs of 500,000 Kenyan households, 300,000 small businesses and some 1000 GWh to other businesses and industries. The project will also help to avoid some 2 million tons of CO2 per annum. The Menengai geothermal energy development project is situated within the Eastern sector of the African Rift system, about 180 km Northwest of Nairobi.


Courtesy of www.afdb.org

China upgrades 1st UHV transmission system

Updated: 2011-12-17 13:45

BEIJING - China on Friday put into operation a project 

extending its ultra high voltage (UHV)system to boost 

electricity transmission capacity from the country's 

energy-rich northernregions to the power-short central

 provinces.

After the extension, the 640-km Jindongnan-Nanyang-Jingmen 

1,000-kilovolt alternating gridswill double the electricity 

transmission capacity and greatly relieve the power shortage 

whendemand peaks in winter and summer under the Central 

China Grid, according to the State GridCorporation of China 

(SGCC), which built the UHV lines.

A total of 120 million kWh of electricity -- equal to 60,000 

tons of coal equivalent -- can betransmitted daily through 

the grids, which run between the city of Jingdongnan in 

northernShanxi province and Nanyang, Henan province 

and Jingmen, Hubei province in central China.

As the first such grid designed and built by China, the

 UHV grid became operational in January2009 and was 

upgraded this year.

In January this year, the SGCC said it planned to invest 500 

billion yuan ($78.9 billion) toextend its UHV electricity

 transmission lines to six by 2015.

UHV, defined as voltage of 1,000 kilovolts or higher of

 alternating current and 800 kilovolts ofdirect current, is 

designed to deliver large quantities of power over long 

distances with lesspower losses than traditional lines.

Courtesy of (Xinhua)