Africa | j contribute to controlling the flow of the
Shire River downstream of the power plant. The Government of Malawi is indebted to its partners in achieving this milestone, which is a major step in the development of this project,” said Minister of Energy in Malawi, Honourable Ibrahim Matola. Under Malawi’s Public-Private Partnership framework, the Government of Malawi recently undertook a selection process to competitively select a private sector partner to finance, build, and operate the scheme. The hydropower plant will now be developed by the government and the International Finance Corporation, with a consortium of renewable energy solutions provider Scatec and EDF leading the work. Scatec, with its venture partners British
International Investment (BII) and Norfund, and EDF are majority shareholders in the project, owning 55 percent split between them. In addition, the Government of Malawi will own 30 percent, and IFC 15 percent of the total project shareholding. “This is a significant development in the
realization of the Mpatamanga project. We are excited to build on our hydro portfolio in Africa – and are proud to have finalised development plans alongside our partners. The country of Malawi will receive a significant investment into its power sector, which in turn will stand to benefit a major portion of the nation’s population. We look forward to reaching further development milestones for this project – and contributing to Africa’s renewable energy journey,” says Terje Pilskog, CEO of Scatec. EDF added that it is proud to contribute to
the project. “It provides a great opportunity to bring our technical expertise in hydropower and our strong environmental and social commitment in favour of local communities and biodiversity,” Béatrice Buffon, EDF Group Senior Executive Vice-President, said. “This competitive project will significantly enhance the access to electricity in Malawi and is fully in line with EDF’s ambition to build a net zero energy future with electricity and innovative solutions that drive economic development.” The partners say that they will work
extensively with all stakeholders and support project implementation, building on EDF’s and Scatec’s strong ESG track-record in development of hydropower projects across the globe, in alignment with IFC’s environmental and social standards.
Morocco
The African Development Bank has approved a grant to the Government of Morocco to assist in the design of dams, river development and inter-basin interconnection studies in the country. The €201,000 grant, extended through the Bank’s Technical Assistance Fund for Middle- Income Countries, will go to the Directorate of Hydraulic Development of the Ministry
of Equipment and Water to help assess the technical feasibility of large and small dams, river protection, and interconnection projects before they are launched. The funds will also help ensure the optimal design for the project by providing technical expertise, and confirm the technical characteristics of complex projects using experts in the field. Morocco’s semi-arid climate makes the country vulnerable to climatic hazards, characterized by alternating wet and dry seasons. The country is experiencing recurrent periods of acute drought with increasing water stress and reserves under severe pressure. The filling rate of dams was less than 27% in August 2022, compared to more than 42% at the same time the previous year. The government established a National
Program for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation (2020-2027) to address the difficult water situation and signed its implementation agreement on 13 January 2020. This program is expected to spur investments in the water sector over the 2020-2027 period to boost potable water supply, especially in the hydraulic basins that were affected by drought in 2015- 2018. The National Program for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation 2020-2027 blueprint consists of the following action plan: ● The development of conventional water resources, including the construction and/or raising of large dams.
● Construction of small dams to support local development.
● Developing non-conventional water resources, in particular through the desalination of seawater.
● Improving access to drinking water in rural areas.
● Securing and boosting potable water supply to urban areas, improving the efficiency of installations, and increasing the autonomy of the drinking water supply.
● Saving water, managing demand and enhancing the use of water.
● Continuous restoration of small and medium hydraulic perimeters.
● The preservation of water quality and the reuse of treated wastewater.
Mozambique
A US$2.5million grant from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), administered by the African Development Bank, will be used to implement the Mozambique Renewable Energy Integration Programme.
“With the support of the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, Mozambique’s capacity to integrate larger shares of variable renewables will increase its efforts to become a major regional electricity supplier,” said Daniel Schroth, Director of the African Development Bank’s Renewable Energy and Energy
14 | March 2023 |
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Efficiency Department. Given that Mozambique is one of the most highly climate-vulnerable countries in the world, he added that the project will help build a more sustainable and resilient power generation infrastructure.” The funding will assist the national electricity company to provide financial support for technical, economic, environmental and social feasibility studies for the development of a solar floating power plant in Chicamba reservoir. In addition, it will support funding for the feasibility studies for ten battery energy storage systems and assessment for a pump storage hydropower plant. “We are very excited to launch the activities under the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa in Mozambique, which comes with a set of very strategic and innovative projects, that will contribute to diversify the energy matrix ad fund a study on storage needs, that will enable the development of more renewable energy projects,” said Marcelino Gildo Alberto, Chairman of EDM. “The support under SEFA also includes a robust capacity building programme, that will enable our personnel to develop strategic skills related to the development and management of renewable energy projects,” he added. Increasingly affected by severe and sudden cyclones, storms, and prolonged periods of drought, Mozambique is endowed with abundant energy from renewable and fossil resources. With 187GW it has the most significant power generation potential in southern Africa, thanks to untapped resources in coal, hydroelectricity, gas, wind, and solar energy. Hydropower currently accounts for about 81% of installed capacity.
Rwanda
The African Development Bank is also helping the Government of Rwanda with financing towards the cost of the Muvumba Multipurpose Water Resources Development Programme. Part of the agreed amount for this loan will help with the recruitment of an independent dam panel of experts consisting of a dam design and safety specialist, geologist and hydrologist. The Muvumba project will entail construction of a 39.5m high embankment dam that will impound 55Mm3
of water in Karama, Gatunda
and Rukom. Water will be used for domestic and agricultural use, plus the production of 6939MWh/yr through a hydropower scheme to be installed at the downstream end of the outlet works. The dam and reservoir will also serve as flood control and for fishing.
Senegal
Vinci has announced that construction work has started on the 128MW Sambangalou hydroelectric dam near Kédougou, in the south of Senegal.
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