Tidal schemes could be the best hope for renewable energy

THE latest bid to revive plans for a Severn barrage comes at a time when the renewable energy sector is facing increasing problems.

Supporters of a barrage argue that it is second only to wind power in its ability to produce a substantial amount of electricity and in being a proven technology.

That is debatable, but what is certain is that the wind industry is facing increasing difficulties in getting projects off the ground.

Not only are wind farms becoming more likely to be rejected by local planners, investors are becoming increasingly put off by a perceived lack of political support, particularly in Wales.

This was highlighted in the summer when First Minister Carwyn Jones announced that the Welsh Government did not see the need for a large overhead pylon network in Mid Wales to connect wind farm developments to the grid.

The statement suggested the Welsh Government did not support major new wind farm developments since burying the power cables would add significantly to the cost.

The solar power industry has also had a hard time of it, although it is perhaps a victim of its own success.

The UK Government has twice changed the framework on feed-in tariffs (FITs), on both occasions causing disruption in the sector.

First it imposed an upper limit of 50 kilowatts (kw) on the size of installations entitled to FITs, killing off the development of large solar parks. Then it announced it was to half the FITs rate from 43p to 21p by December 12, a far larger and earlier cut than had been previously suggested.

Supporters of renewable energy hope new biomass and anaerobic digestion plants will take up some of the slack, but there is every likelihood these will also face local planning difficulties, as waste burning plants elsewhere have.

In this context, tidal energy projects could be the best hope for renewable energy.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/

Wind Energy in Kenya: Lake Turkana wind farm

December 12, 2011

A wind farm. A financing deal for Kenya’s largest wind power will be concluded in the first quarter of next year, setting East Africa’s largest economy on the path to becoming the region’s leader in renewable energy.

Last week, South Africa announced a 100 MW wind power project to be located in Cape Town. Along with solar power (another 100MW), the two renewable energy sources are jointly funded by the AfDB, World Bank, and a coalition of other development banks and financiers to the tune of $500 million. Cape Verde Islands is also developing a 28MW capacity plant.

 “Next (this) week, we will be announcing a funding programme to develop wind energy sector in Morocco and the Central Africa Republic,” said Ms Hellen Chedrourou," said AfDB’s director for climate finance.

Mr Carlo Van Wageningen, the chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power, told participants at the climate change talks in Durban that conclusion of the deal paves the way for the €600 million plant to produce the first 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the third quarter of next year before rising to full capacity a year later.

 “We expect to close the financing deal in March or April 2012 and to have full production of 300 MW a year later,” he said in a presentation to showcase the project in Durban.

The announcement comes a year after the Treasury offered the financiers guarantees they had sought against political and other risks.

The Turkana wind farm, billed as one of the largest in the world, is being financed through a 30 per cent syndicated loan arranged by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Other financiers are the Standard and Ned banks of South Africa, BKF, a Danish development bank and the European Investment Bank who will pump in €42.8 million.

The project is 51 per cent owned by Aldywich International, South Africa’s IDB (25 per cent), Pan Africa Investment Development Fund and Vestas— the Danish leading manufacturer of wind turbines (12.5 per cent) and the six co-founders (6.5 per cent).

KP and P Africa B.V, a special purpose vehicle, registered in Denmark is the holding company for the wind power firm.

The Turkana wind power company hopes to produce electricity at the cost of €7.52 cents per kilowatt hour making it the cheapest power source in Kenya.

“There must be a strong PPA and fixed price contracts with the suppliers,” said Zuber Suliman, an investment analyst at DEG- the private sector lending arm of KfW, a German development bank.

Once completed, it is expected to account for 22 per cent Kenya’s electricity demand, in addition to the 400MW geothermal power that is expected to be on the national grid in the next four years.

Together with hydro-electric power that already accounts for more than 70 per cent of Kenya’s electricity needs, these two projects are set to make the country nearly 100 per cent dependent on environmentally-friendly energy sources and to smooth out fluctuation in output from hydro sources.

 “Hydro, wind and solar complement each other,” said Vestas grid expert Eric Sorensein. The government through the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has advertised tenders for construction of a 428 km power line and four substations to link the wind farm that is located in remote but windy Loiyangalani area to the national grid.

Lake Turkana Wind Power plans to build at least 353 wind turbines. Each unit, to be procured from the world’s top marker of wind turbines, Vestas Wind Systems of Denmark, has the capacity to produce 850 KW of electricity.

Sponsors of the Turkana power say they have had to build a unique financing model for the project to lower perceived risks and bankability of infrastructure and energy security programmes. Unlike Europe where energy sector loans can be funded up to a high of 97:3 debt/ equity ratio. The ratio rarely passes 70:30 in Africa because of high levels of perceived risk.

ZEDDY SAMBU, www.businessdailyafrica.com

Nuclear energy 'does not reduce the price of electricity'

Nuclear power plants can be attractive for their owners but not necessarily for consumers as they hardly ever determine the price of electricity on the energy exchange, says Alois Tost, an independent energy consultant. In an interview with EurActiv.cz, the German expert also adivsed against solar photovoltaics to compensate for Germany's nuclear phase-out.

Tost, a German consultant who advises energy firms in the Czech Republic, said the debate about the costs of the nuclear phase-out in Germany had been misled.

Contrary to what has been claimed, the nuclear phase-out will not be felt on consumer prices, he said. This is because nuclear electricity is cheaper than gas, and therefore has no influence on price determination on the wholesale electricity market.

“The price of electricity is formed at the energy exchange and it is always determined by the most expensive power plant which is necessary to meet demand. [...] And usually it is the gas power plant which is the most expensive and determines the price of electricity. The nuclear power plants hardly ever decide about price,” said Tost .

As a result, “every power plant gets paid the price which is necessary to pay for the most expensive one, the so-called marginal power plant. Therefore operating a nuclear power plant is highly attractive for its owner.”

"This is a question of who gains and who pays. When somebody says that the nuclear power plant is cheap, it is for the owner but not necessarily for the consumer."

Responding to the argument that electricity prices rose in Germany when the 8 nuclear power plants were switched off, Tost said that this was because they were not replaced by cheaper coal plants for example but with gas power plants.

“If you replace the capacity of a nuclear power plant for example by the capacity of a coal power plant, the price will not change because it is still the natural gas power plant being the most expensive one and deciding about the price.”

Tost did not believe there was a risk that Germany would replace its nuclear capacity with high-polluting coal, a move that would endanger the country's climate goals. In his view, the EU emissions trading scheme for CO2 will regulate emissions, regardless of the technology.

“If somebody says that a new coal power plant will cause a rise in CO2 emission, it is not true because the amount is defined and no more emission certificates will be allocated just because a new power plant is being built.”

Renewable energy sources to fill the nuclear gap?

Asked about renewables, Tost expressed doubts that Germany should invest in solar energy as an alternative to nuclear.

“Photovoltaics are for sure not the most efficient way to produce renewable energy in Germany because considering that they contribute only 14.2 % to the overall renewable electricity production, their share in subsidies for renewables is 38.6 %.”

He also highlighted the difficulties in importing solar power into Germany due to insufficient grid transmission capacity.

“We would need for example to strengthen the transmission grid. In Germany this would face a strong opposition of the population because usually people want to have clean energy but nobody wants to have wind mills or transmission lines in his garden. But it is one of the concepts for the future how to realise the idea to produce the renewable energy where it is the most efficient and to transmit it to other regions”

To read the interview in full, please click here.

Courtesy of EurActiv.com

South Africa: Media Statement By Minister of Energy, Ms Dipuo Peters At the COP17 Media Briefing of One December 2011

1 December 2011

Press release

The Department of Energy welcomes the appointment of South Africa to the Chair of the 17th Congress of Parties and, will work hard to support the Minister of the Department of International Relations and Coordination in carrying out the duties incumbent to the post on behalf of the nation and, the continent.

With regards the Energy agenda, the current reality is that more than 65% of South Africa's total energy needs are met through coal as the primary energy source. This is followed by crude oil at around 22%, while the remaining 13% of our energy needs are met by gas, nuclear, hydro and renewable energy sources combined. Coal therefore plays the dominant role in our supply of energy, especially in the electricity sector where approximately 90% of the country's electricity is produced in coal-fired power stations, (the country's biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions), while nuclear, natural gas; hydro and renewable energy sources make up the remaining 10%.

We cannot, however ignore the fact that we are a coal-rich economy, nor can we ignore the significant contribution of the coal mining industry towards the economy. In 2010 South Africa had an estimated 32 billion tonnes of coal reserves (which at current local consumptions rates can last us more than 100 years to come) and according to Statistics South Africa, the coal mining sector contributed about 1.8% of GDP directly.

The White Paper on Energy Policy for South Africa states that "not only must government increase its capacity to deal with the pressing needs of the day, but it must also improve its ability to address long-term issues, such as the development of renewable energy resources to achieve a more sustainable energy mix". Therefore, these statistics should not and have not deterred us from acknowledging the other reality of the impact that coal-related emissions have on health, the environment and of course climate change.

As a country we are committed to playing our part to reducing total emissions and therefore moving towards a low-carbon economy. As we are all aware, this commitment was entrenched when the President pledged for South Africa to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34% by the year 2020 and further tighten this target by reducing emissions by 42% by the year 2025, provided technology and finance are made available.

The signing of the Green Economy Accord by the government and its social partners two weeks ago marks yet another significant milestone in achieving this. Of the 12 commitments made in the accord, some are direct contributions by the energy.

In May this year, we promulgated the Integrated Resource Plan (commonly referred to as the IRP) for Electricity, which is a 20-year capacity expansion plan for the electricity sector.

The IRP seeks to have an energy mix whereby 42% of all new capacity is from renewable energy sources, followed by 23% from nuclear, 15% from coal, 9% from liquid fuels, 6% from natural gas and 6% from imported hydro. This plan sees renewable energy playing a more significant role and eventually contributing 9% towards the total energy mix for electricity generation.

We aim to achieve our target of installing one million solar water heaters in homes by 2014; and securing commitments from the private sector for the supply of 3 725 MW of renewable energy by 2016. This capacity will primarily be from solar, wind, biogas, biomass, landfill gas and small hydro technologies.

The Wind Atlas project which is being undertaken by various research institutions including SANEDI and the CSIR aims to develop and employ numerical wind atlas methods and develop capacity to enable large scale of exploitation of wind power in South Africa.

Given the fact that we are a coal-rich economy, the accord also commits the government to have an increased focus on the advancement of clean coal technologies through projects such as underground coal gasification, as well as carbon capture and storage (CCS) through our energy research and development institute (SANEDI).

CCS is a key potential greenhouse mitigation option for the country and as the energy sector we are committed to its implementation. We want to invest in CCS technologies, and efforts have been made to scale these technologies up to a commercial scale.

In this regard, the South African Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage (SACCCS) under SANEDI was established to support development and deployment of geological sequestration in the country. The South African "Carbon-Dioxide Geological Storage Atlas" launched in 2010 identified significant (150 Gigatons) potential CO2 storage capacity in the country. The next milestone for the centre is for development of the technologies which will enable the first test injection to be up and running by 2016.

If we are serious about diversification towards a low carbon economy, we cannot ignore the role that natural gas can play as a bridging option in this transition, because natural gas emits significantly lower greenhouse gases than other fossil fuels such as coal and crude oil.

Coal Bed Methane (CBM), is no longer regarded as an obstacle in the coal mining sector and is instead fast becoming known as a commercially viable energy source. It is also increasingly important that we collaborate with our neighbours such as Mozambique (with whom we already have long term cooperation on gas supply), Namibia, Angola, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Regional cooperation (similar to that which is well-established in Europe) is essential if we are to tackle energy development successfully while assisting each other with our developmental needs.

South Africa already imports a substantial amount of gas from Mozambique, which is primarily used for Gas-to-Liquid plants and other industrial processes. Plans are currently underway to construct a gas-fired power plant with 140MW capacity through a joint venture between Sasol and the local Mozambican power utility. Natural gas is not only beneficial in that it has less carbon content than coal and crude oil, but gas fired plants require less water; have shorter construction times; and have lower capital costs per unit of capacity when compared to coal fired plants.

South Africa is a highly-fuel dependent country, with 22% of overall energy consumption being that of liquid fuels. Approximately 70% of this is from crude oil as a primary energy source while the remaining 30% is from coal. The green economy accord also commits government to facilitate the development of a local biofuels industry and setting targets for the mandatory blending of bio-ethanol and bio-diesel into petrol and diesel.

In this regard we have published draft regulations which make it mandatory for oil refineries to blend 2% and 5% of petrol and diesel with bio-ethanol and bio-diesel respectively.

This will primarily reduce the quantity of emissions from vehicles. However, blending of biofuels alone is not sufficient in addressing the carbon footprint of the sector, and there is a need to move to cleaner fuels specifications such as those already adopted in most parts of Europe.

This will require substantial investments as current refining technologies will have to be overhauled to adapt to new specifications. We are currently weighing out the option of constructing a new refinery in accordance to these new specifications. This will ensure that we reduce emissions from the sector whilst at the same time meeting the increasing demand.

We are a water-constrained country, however, not all of Africa is. The Congo River and its Inga Dam in the DRC provide a significant potential for energy. President JG Zuma recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Grand Inga Hydroelectric Project with the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sustainable Development

This project has an estimated capacity of 40 000 MW which has the potential to change the African energy sector and it would significantly increase Africa generation capacity. This will enhance energy access to clean and efficient energy across the continent and contribute significantly towards a low carbon economy and economic development.

In order to keep a balance between energy security and sustainable development, we realise that moving towards a low carbon economy is not going to be an overnight event.

Courtesy of  allafrica.com

India: Tata Power may set up plants in Africa, Indonesia

By Eric Yep

MUMBAI -(MarketWatch)- Tata Power Co. plans to build electricity generation plants in Indonesia and Africa to help offset a difficult business environment in India, Managing Director Anil Sardana said.

The company is seeking to build power projects in Africa through its existing group units in the region, Sardana told Dow Jones Newswires via email recently.

The diversified Tata Group operates in Africa through Tata Africa Holdings, its website showed.

Tata Power and other Indian utilities are trying to grow their overseas business, including by acquiring coal mines or setting up power plants, as India's electricity generation business is being crimped by fuel shortages and difficulties in getting land and environmental clearances.

Sardana didn't say where in Africa the company is planning to set up power plants, or give any details of a similar Tata project in Indonesia. 

Courtesy of http://www.marketwatch.com

Power firm starts Sh11bn Nairobi to Mombasa line

Workers arrange imported steel to build power transmission towers for the Ketraco project. The Mombasa-Nairobi line is expected to ease outages. Githua Kihara 

By GITHUA KIHARA  (email the author)

Posted  Thursday, December 1  2011 at  00:00

State-owned electricity transmitter Ketraco has started construction of a Sh11 billion Mombasa-Nairobi power line that will have capacity to handle 1,500 mega watts of power— which is more than Kenya’s total installed capacity.

Indian based engineering firm, Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd, which is working on part of the 450 kilometre transmission line, has already built 25 foundations for transmission towers that will be erected from mid next month.

The project, which is one of about 23 others that the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) is undertaking around the country, is expected to be completed by mid next year.

“This is our biggest project so far, but we have many others going on around the country,” said Joel Kiilu, chief executive of Ketraco.

The power transmission firm was hived-off from Kenya Power to exclusively build infrastructure for high voltage electricity transmission.

Kenya Power retained the role of a power distributor in charge of smaller voltage lines for connecting end-users. The Mombasa-Nairobi line will be used to transmit up-country high voltage power generated from the coast. There are plans to set up a 300MW coal plant in Mombasa, which is also home to thermal power generation plants at Kipevu and Rabai.

Location of thermal generators at the coast will cut transportation costs incurred by in-land based diesel power producers, potentially benefiting consumers through cheaper electricity tariffs.

“It will be cheaper and easier to generate power at the cost and transmit it through this line,” said Mr Kiilu. Funding for the projects has been sourced from the Treasury, European Investment Bank, French Development Bank (ADB), Africa Development bank (AfDB).

The project will also include the construction of new transmission lines from Isinya to Embakasi substation in Nairobi and the expansion of the Rabai and Embakasi substations. A new sub-station will be constructed at Mariakani on a 200 acre land that Ketraco has already acquired from local authorities.

The two existing lines in use today have limited transfer capacity of 100 MW, limiting the capacity to generate power from the Coastal region.

About three power generation plants with a combined capacity of 290 MW are planned to start generation by the time the transmission line is built

“The Mombasa-Nairobi transmission line project is central to the country’s power infrastructure development plan since future thermal plants will be installed in Mombasa area near the port facilities,” said Raphael Mworia, Ketraco corporate communications manager.

The current peak electric power demand is estimated at 1,180 MW and it is projected to grow at 7 per cent annually over the next 10 years, to reach 2,263MW by 2018.

A feasibility study on the establishment of a 300 MW coal power plant in Mombasa shows that the plant will require 0.9 to 1.1 million tonnes of coal per year, all of which will be landed at the Mombasa port and transported to the power station. 

Courtesy of Business Daily

Botswana eyes more electricity generation

Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:38am GMT

* To add 1,200 MW to national grid by 2017

GABORONE Nov 29 (Reuters) - Botswana plans to add 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity to its national grid in the next six years as the diamond rich country battles to address power supply shortages, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Boikobo Paya, Permanent Secretary in the Energy Ministry, said that in addition to the 600 MW power station to be commissioned in 2012, two other 300 MW power stations to be built by Independent Power Producers (IPP) should kick into the national grid by 2017/18.

"On top of the Morupule B power station which will add 600 MW to national supply next year, we expect a brownfield power station consisting of two 150 MW units to be built through IPPs by 2015/16," Paya told an energy conference.

He added: "Another 300 MW greenfield power station is also expected to be built by independent producers by 2017/18."

Botswana has only one power station, Morupule A plant, which produces 120 MW, with the remainder of its power needs, about 80 percent, being imported mainly from South Africa.

The first phase of $1.5 billion Morupule B power station is expected to be commissioned by March 2012.

In anticipation of the higher demand for coal from the power plants, plans are under way to increase production at the country's only coal mine, Morupule Colliery, from 1.2 million tones per annum to 2.8 million tonnes.

Botswana has coal reserves estimated at 212 billion tones, but only one operating mine. Three companies, CIC Energy, African Energy and Aviva Corporation, have expressed intentions to open new mines for both local use and exports.

Government officials said at the conference that there are currently 190 coal and coal bed methane prospecting licences issued to 43 companies, mostly from Australia and China. (Editing by Olivia Kumwenda)

Courtesy of Reuters