The president of The Rockefeller Foundation, a multi-billion-dollar philanthropic investment house that began life investing the oil profits of John D. Rockefeller, has said the firm’s priority is an “equitable” energy transition.
Xlinks First Ltd. has appointed a new chief executive officer to lead its ambitious plan to transmit electricity from a solar and wind power plant in Morocco to the UK via a subsea cable,
Masdar head Al Ramahi said the Kyrgyzstan agreement marked a “new chapter for Masdar in our clean energy journey … we are glad to have the opportunity to bring the energy, passion and focus to hydropower that we have utilised for so many other renewable energy sources”.
“As a result, market confidence in South Africa’s utility-scale public procurement appears too low to underpin industrial and inclusive development on its own,” the report said.
“It’s transition on our own terms, with our own resources. We need to get smarter about how we articulate that, not as victims, or as people to be allowed to do things,” said Yvonne Ike, head of sub-Saharan Africa at Bank of America. “We need to work with the countries that get it, so from the Gulf, from Asia.”
“Diesel may win out as being the easy choice,” Alexander said, but it poses other challenges around maintenance and lifespan. “When we started, the conversation around diesel was on cutting costs – and we are still able to do that. We can offer 30-40% cost savings.”
Emery said that senior leaders at the IFC had undermined the “ambitious and thoughtfully designed” plan through a desire to “tell a magical story where a pinch of best practices and a dash of de-risking” would be enough to unlock the required financing.
The project could create 10,000 jobs in Morocco during construction, of which 2,000 will be permanent. In the UK, Xlinks believes it could create 1,350 permanent jobs.
The first five bidders, named in December, were to build 860 MW of capacity. The ministry was seeking 1,000 MW. The DMRE said the IPP office and the bid adjudication committee had recommended Ngonyama.
“Our country has, in addition to the advantages in the energy sources from gas and oil, significant potential in the field of solar energy, a vast electricity network, and national and international natural gas transport infrastructure, as well as an industrial fabric”, he said.
The government has said it is keen to establish – with Eskom, Treasury and the Department of Public Enterprises – a means to build new transmission infrastructure. This would allow more private sector participation in transmission, it said.
Zola is now operating in 12 countries, which Lenihan described as “enough markets for now”. The current priority is to build up relevance in the countries where it is now.
The statement noted that green ammonia produced domestically would reduce South Africa’s reliance on imports and the strain on its overburdened rail network.
The plan involves developing 2 GW of renewable energy in Angola, 1 GW in Uganda and 2 GW in Zambia. The agreement with Zambia set out plans to work on wind, solar and hydropower.