Power Sector And Other Related News Stories For Monday 24th October 2022
Can Renewable Energy Close Power Supply Gap?
One of the existential realities man has come to accept as a necessity for healthy living today is a good energy source. However, the irony is that this most essential commodity is sadly in short supply.
Presently, seventy-six million Nigerians or 40.7% of the Nigerian population are not connected to the national power grid. For those connected, power supply is a serious problem as about approximately 90% of total power demanded is not supplied.
Some of the major sources of renewable energy include hydropower, solar, wind, tidal energy, bio-fuels, geothermal, hydrogen and biomass respectively.
In emerging economies like Nigeria, the quest for energy is in high demand, but not readily available.
Although, electricity is considered a major determinant of economic development as access to electricity is expected to catalyse nations in the drive for industrialisation, supply to homes and businesses remained dismal in Nigeria on the backdrop of a flawed privatisation exercise.
Averaging 4,500 megawatts in the past eight years, Nigerians looking forward to improved electricity supply may continue to wait as inherent challenges may stall power generation in the current.
https://thenationonlineng.net/can-renewable-energy-close-power-supply-gap/
Mojec Calls Out Energy Theft in Power Sector
On Friday, officials of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) took a tour of MOJEC, a meter manufacturing company. In her remarks, the Chairman/CEO of Mojec International Limited, Mojisola Abdul, thanked NERC for its continued support. She urged the commission to help educate consumers about desisting from energy theft as energy theft sabotages the efforts of the DisCo. She added that most consumers would take power directly from the poles to bypass meters.
Abdul continued that enlightenment and engagement are vital to reduce the menace of energy theft, adding that Energy theft hampers the growth of the DisCos.
Aisha Mahmud, the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, NERC, commended the role of Mojec International in closing the energy metering gap in the power industry. In addition, she said that Mojec’s smart meters have helped address the complaints like estimated billing that the NERC, as a regulating body, has been trying to solve.
https://theelectricityhub.com/mojec-calls-out-energy-theft-in-power-sector/
Liberia Sign Power Purchase Arrangements with Ci Energies for Additional 27 Mw
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between the Liberia Ministry of Mines and Energy, CI Energies, CIE and LEC for the supply of 27megawatts of electricity to Liberia. The power will be transmitted through the CLSG Transmission line. Power supply to Liberia will commence on December 1 of this year.
This 1,350-kilometer power transmission line which carries 225kv runs through the CLSG/Transco grid network connecting the four countries, La Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
With the signing of this agreement, the LEC management is confident that the country is getting closer to its national goal of increasing access to electricity for all Liberians. The management is encouraging all its customers, currently connected to the national grid, to use electricity wisely and not undermine its ability to serve the general public through misuse and theft.
According to the service provider, this PPA is for a 3-year term and is renewable. CIE will deliver to Liberia 25 megawatts on December 1, 2022, and go up to 27 megawatts in January 2023.
Mozambique Set to Become Regional Energy Hub
The director of Market Operations at Mozambique’s utility company Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM), Luis Ganje, reported that the government is mobilising investments to build new power-generating projects to meet the enormous energy demand in the region.
Ganje, who was speaking to the press in Maputo on 11 October on the sidelines of the 59th General Meeting of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), said that a financial agreement, estimated at US$5 billion for the implementation of the Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project would be reached soon.
According to Ganje, the new hydroelectric facility on the Zambezi River, downstream from the Cahora Bassa dam (HCB) in the central province of Tete, will help to alleviate the regional energy deficit, currently estimated to be seven gigawatts.
He also pointed to the construction of a 563-kilometre-long new transmission power line between Temane and Maputo and the implementation of the Tete-Maputo line, also known as the “backbone,” which will make it possible to develop integrated electricity infrastructures to support the industrialisation of Mozambique and the region.
https://theelectricityhub.com/mozambique-set-to-become-regional-energy-hub/
Germans Protest Increasing Energy Prices
On Saturday, tens of thousands protested in six German cities to demand the government’s solution to rising energy prices and living costs. The protesters marched in Hannover, Dresden, Stuttgart, Duesseldorf, Berlin, and Frankfurt-am-Main, demanding more equitable government funds to deal with the soaring energy prices and calling for a faster transition away from fossil fuels.
According to one of the organizers, Greenpeace, about 24,000 protesters gathered in Berlin. Andrea Kocsis, deputy chair of ver.di, one of the organizers of the protests, said, “We want to show that we urgently need financial relief for citizens that is socially balanced. The government is doing a lot, but it is distributing funds with a watering can. People with lower income need more support than the wealthy”.
In September, German’s inflation hit 10.9%, the highest level in more than a quarter of a century due to higher energy costs. A protester in Berlin, Ulrich Franz, said .“I would find it better if we distributed it more justly. Millionaires are saying they want to pay more taxes. I’m not seeing anything happening on that front,”. The protesters were seen holding placards and chanting slogans demanding lower inflation, switching off nuclear power and more energy subsidies for the poor.
https://theelectricityhub.com/germans-protest-increasing-energy-prices/
