In July, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency announced a call for initial proposals from project sponsors in sub-Saharan Africa or U.S. companies working with African project sponsors. Given the volume of demand, USTDA is extending the deadline for submissions to Friday, October 20, 2017 at 5:00pm EST. USTDA will begin evaluations of initial proposals already received and will be in touch with those who submitted them.

Interested entities that have not already submitted an initial proposal on energy-related projects are invited to do so (not to exceed five pages). The proposal should include a brief description of the project's size and status, including project location, economic fundamentals, equipment and technology requirements, legal and regulatory considerations, and the purpose and amount of USTDA funding requested.

The proposal should also outline the sponsor's experience, potential options for financing the project, risks that the project faces, and estimated potential for U.S. content in the project's implementation. USTDA projects are assessed for viability, including proven technologies, as well as their social and environmental impact. USTDA funding is available to private and public beneficiaries on a 100 percent grant basis. Interested entities are welcome to use USTDA's General Funding Request Guidelines. 

USTDA is an implementing agency of both the Power Africa and U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance programs, which seek to increase access to electrical power and support private sector investments in African clean energy infrastructure.USTDA's investments under these programs provide critical early-stage support to advance new power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.

To get further information and to submit your proposal, please email PowerAfrica@ustda.gov.

Solar power installed at the Mazuru clinic in Zimbabwe is making childbirth safer and less expensive for women.
SALLY NYAKANYANGA | September 26, 2017

Juliet Chasamuka, 34, was six months pregnant when I met her in the Gutu district of Masvingo, a rural community 300 kilometres south of Harare, Zimbabwe. The now mother of five has had many different experiences when giving birth.

For her first two births, as is the norm at many poor health care centres in the remote areas of this largely agrarian country, Chasamuka was expected to bring her own candles, matches and kerosene lamps. Expectant mothers are sometimes even asked to bring water for cleaning and washing during their stay at a clinic.

Buying these resources was a problem, says Chasamuka. “My husband has never been employed,” she explains. “As a family, we depend on working in other people’s fields in return for either food, money or clothes. It was therefore difficult for me to buy the required supplies.”

For her next two children, she decided to give birth at home due to the expense. “I was assisted by a village midwife, and fortunately it went well,” she says. As is common here — almost 22 per cent of women in Zimbabwe give birth without skilled health care staff present — the midwife Chasamuka used did not have formal medical training.

The situation is made worse in rural areas like Chasamuka’s where energy access is a major problem. The most recent World Bank data shows that, in Zimbabwe, 83.4 per cent of people in urban areas have access to electricity, as compared to 9.8 per cent in rural areas. This is despite the fact that 68 per cent of the country’s 16.2 million inhabitants live in rural areas. In serious need of electricity, the Mazuru clinic turned to solar energy.

Read more......

Sep 25 (Renewables Now) -
UK energy storage company redT energy plc (LON:RED) has sold 14 of its 40-kWh modules to an unnamed Botswana-based customer for use at communications infrastructure sites across the country.

"This represents a sizable commercial order for redT after deploying our initial units in South Africa," said Scott McGregor, chief executive of the company, which sees sub-Saharan Africa as a key growth market.

redT's energy storage systems are based on vanadium redox flow technology. The 14 units it will supply in Botswana will be installed in remote locations without grid connection and will be coupled with 11-kWp solar arrays at each site. The storage units will timeshift the solar generation, ensuring 24-hour power supply, which is cheaper than off-grid diesel generator off-grid, redT says.   

According to the announcement, redT's technology has been selected because of its long service life, low maintenance needs and ability to operate "at challenging sites such as these, where conventional lead-acid and lithium batteries have been used before and have experienced critical failure."

Source.......

Cape Town, 14 September 2017:
Limited and unreliable energy transmission and distribution grids across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa has created a dependency by large industrial and mining houses on diesel and heavy fuel oil (HFO) to provide a reliable energy supply.
The rapid decrease in solar photovoltaic (PV) pricing has consequently opened up prospects for hybridizing solar PV with thermal power plants, with or without battery energy storage depending on the application. The even higher rate of battery storage cost reductions means a higher adoption of these hybrid systems.
Monya Bassingthwaighte, Business Development Manager at juwi Renewable Energies (juwi), says “with renewable energy power systems becoming more cost- effective compared to traditional thermal power systems, a regional impetus is expected on the deployment of these hybrid systems. It is forecast that the market share will largely be contributed by the Commercial and Industrial sectors, which are typically energy intensive users and thus largely reliant on thermal fossil fuels”.
Juwi, offers hybridized solar PV and thermal power plant solutions with full technology integration and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) delivery. juwi’s hybrid solutions offer a direct cost saving due to reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
This saving can currently reach up to 50% of baseline fuel consumption. Another important financial benefit is the ability to forecast the future energy costs and the associated hedging against the volatility of the oil price, transport costs, exchange
rates, and the current and future costs of CO 2 . Technical benefits include improved energy security, power quality (voltage and frequency) and resolution on the data monitoring of the power plant via juwi’s proprietary hybrid SCADA software.
In 2016, juwi successfully commissioned the world’s largest off-grid hybrid power plant at the DeGrussa Copper-Gold mine in Western Australia. The plant is a fully integrated off-grid solar-battery- diesel hybrid system. The system configuration includes solar PV of 10.6 MWp, and a 4 MW (1.8 MWh) lithium ion battery facility, which fully integrates with a pre-existing 19 MW diesel power station, and saves the mine 5 million litres (20% of former consumption) of diesel per year. This flagship project serves as a global proof of concept for hybridizing both existing and greenfields mining power infrastructure.
juwi is actively expanding their footprint in sub-Saharan Africa. “We have seen an increase in requests coming out of the region for hybrid solutions and we believe there is significant growth potential going forward”, said Bassingthwaighte.

juwi Renewable Energies based in Cape Town, South Africa (“juwi South Africa”) participates in the Renewable Energy IPP (REIPP) Procurement Programme initiated by the South African government for utility-scale renewable energy power generation. To date juwi South Africa has built five solar plants totalling 121MW under the REIPP Procurement Programme. juwi
South Africa also develops and bids wind projects under the Programme, and is also active in the government’s Small IPP Programme. In addition to this, juwi South Africa constructs large solar PV projects that deliver cost competitive electricity to a range of commercial and industrial end-users, as well as hybrid solar-diesel- storage systems.
​German engineering, local competency, quality delivery. Partner with us for success.
juwi Renewable Energies (Pty) Ltd Tel: 021 831 6100
info@juwi.co.za www.juwi.co.za
Issued by Catalyst Communication on behalf of juwi Renewable Energies. For further
information contact Kim Barty on kim@catalystcommunications.co.za or 083 630 6861.

Solar PV Mounting Systems Market share will reach USD 9 billion by 2024, according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Strict government norms pertaining to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions will thrust the installation of photovoltaic systems, which will stimulate the solar PV mounting systems market.
Regulations including 2009/28/EC directive and renewable purchase obligation creating a need to adopt sustainable technologies to generate electricity. Shift of consumer focus towards adoption of clean energy to reduce carbon emissions will further complement the industry landscape. The European Union has set a target to fulfil at least 20% of its energy requirement from renewable sources by 2020.
Germany solar PV mounting systems market is set to exceed USD 150 million by 2024. Increasing adoption of energy efficient systems coupled with growing measures towards energy security will complement the business outlook. In Germany from January 2016, construction of new buildings was only permitted if its primary energy requirement must be lower than 25 % of the previous threshold.
​
Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/1647

Increasing demand for off-grid electricity from remote areas for uninterrupted and reliable supply will steer the growth of solar PV mounting systems market share. High initial investment towards grid extension will encourage the adoption of off grid renewable technologies including solar, which will further complement the industry outlook. In April 2017, The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced to invest USD 12 billion over next 5 years in its new electrification program.

Government initiatives including Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), soft loans, subsidies, and tax rebates will further augment the solar PV mounting systems market share. In September 2014, government of Chile introduced a net-metering scheme, which will help beneficiaries to receive credit on their utility bills for feeding excess electricity to the grid.

Ground mounted in 2016 accounted for over 75% of solar PV mounting systems market share. High efficiency and facility for inclination & orientation are some of the salient features which makes its adoption preferable over other available counterparts. Rising demand for large capacity photovoltaic plants along with ongoing expansion of existing systems will further stimulate the product demand.

Introduction of net zero emission building regulation along with increasing investments towards energy efficient building infrastructure will favor the commercial solar PV mounting systems market by 2024. In 2016, Lloyds bank announced to invest around USD 1000 million for commercial property to curb carbon emissions from their real estate assets.

Favorable government initiatives including tax rebates to promote renewable energy utilization and to reduce harmful emissions will foster Canada solar PV mounting systems market growth. In 2016, Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) introduced zero carbon building framework to curb emissions to 30% by 2030.

Read more......

Trading house Glencore is to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from Angola LNG over a multi-year period, adding to similar recent deals between the producer and traders including Vitol.
Angola LNG on Wednesday said the deal was another step toward building its sales book with the most important players in the LNG market.
Last month it sold LNG to Vitol over a multi-year period and also entered a sales deal with the trading arm of Germany's RWE.
Until recently, Angola has been selling all of its LNG via competitive tenders in the spot market, partly because a previous plan to ship LNG to the US fell through because of the US shale gas boom.

Read more......

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Solafrica Energy (Pty) Ltd., a developer of utility-scale solar power plants in Southern Africa, for a pilot project that demonstrates the performance of an energy storage system based on Primus Power Corporation's (California) EnergyPod2® technology.

The EnergyPod2® is a long-duration energy storage system based on zinc-bromine flow batteries. The pilot will demonstrate the performance of this energy storage system under South Africa's electric grid conditions at the large-scale energy storage test and demonstration facility of Eskom, South Africa's national electricity utility.

The pilot will include a series of assessments to determine applications where long-duration energy storage has the greatest value on South Africa's electric grid and will generate an implementation plan for the deployment of Primus Power's energy storage systems throughout the country. Large-scale deployments of energy storage on South Africa's electric grid will increase the capacity of the grid, support further integration of renewable energy resources, and offset the use of diesel fuel for peaking power and backup power generation.

"USTDA is pleased to support this project that will increase energy storage capacity in South Africa and ultimately expand access to affordable, reliable electricity," said Lida Fitts, Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Director at USTDA. "The project will display the value and applications of innovative U.S. technologies in a growing and important sector in South Africa."

"South Africa's rapid increase in renewable energy integration has introduced challenges related to intermittent power generation," said Nasi Rwigema, Project Director of Solafrica Energy. "Innovative and cost-effective energy storage solutions will add great value to energy users and electricity network operators alike."

"As a continent, Africa has the majority of the world's population without access to reliable electricity," commented Tom Stepien, CEO of Primus Power. "By commencing this pilot with the support of USTDA, we aim to demonstrate the performance, reliability, durability and cost competitiveness of our EnergyPod2® system and apply it in order to satisfy energy storage needs in South Africa, and additional countries in Africa, for years to come."

This pilot project was submitted through USTDA's previous proposal window for energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. USTDA currently has a new call for initial proposals from energy project sponsors or U.S. companies working in the region. Interested parties must submit an initial concept paper by 5:00pm Eastern Time on September 25, 2017 and may refer to the press release as well as USTDA's full proposal guidelines available on its website.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

Source: U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

See also..... ​US Trade and Development Agency
​pays for South Africa flow battery pilot

Established in 2008, SAAEA has become the largest and most influential renewable energy association on the African Continent, and South Africa is now a formidable force in the worldwide renewable energy industry.  
 
The Southern African Alternative Energy Association has therefore taken the decision to become a global organisation; which will exponentially increase the field of information sharing among the renewable energy community and will provide opportunities to make connections internationally.
   
The Global Renewable Energy Alliance (G-REAL) is being incorporated into SAAEA.
 

​This development will afford our current members worldwide access and exposure, and we encourage new members from all over the world to join our global community.
 
Alwyn Smith, chairman of SAAEA says: "Our existing members will have full access to the G-Real platform with full membership benefits; both logos are available for promotional purposes.  We hope that this will create lots of new opportunities for the renewable energy community as a whole".

posted by Liesl Frankson on September 15, 2017 in Construction, News, Other infrastructure, Transport​
A new open-access liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant was opened this week at the Port of Saldanha on the West Coast of South Africa.
The 30-year contract for the planning, construction and operation of the terminal was awarded to Sunrise Energy, a partnership between the South African private and public sectors, by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) in 2013.
Saldanha Port Manager Vernal Jones said the R109 billion investment would create broader LPG access in the Western Cape and aid in increasing the use of environmentally-friendly and affordable LPG in the national energy mix.
“The terminal will boost the capacity of existing LPG distributors as well as enable the entry of new small, medium-sized and microenterprises, who have had restricted access to the market because of supply constraints and lack of access to enabling infrastructure,” he added.
The future of LPG imports and exportsThe facility comprises a 10.9 hectare landside terminal and waterside multi-buoy mooring connected via a three kilometre subsea and over-land pipeline.
Phase 1 of the terminal entails five tanks with 5 500 tonnes of storage, allowing for a monthly capacity of 17 500 tonnes of LPG. Construction of Phase 1 was completed on schedule and a trial shipment was handled at the terminal at the end of May 2017.
Phases 2 and 3 of the project will see modular expansion that will enable the terminal to meet regional LPG supply demands for the next 27 years.
The Sunrise Energy Terminal is poised to become the country’s largest such facility for handling both imports and exports of LPG the ports authority said.
Earlier this month TNPA’s 24-year concession awarded to black-empowered Burgan Cape Terminals saw a new independent fuel storage, distribution and loading facility become fully operational at the Port of Cape Town.