Category: Energy

Africa’s Natural Gas Sector is Building Momentum in 2024

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber The recently signed liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province is a promising step on the long road to Africa’s just energy transition. The project, being jointly developed by Kinetic Energy of Australia and the Industrial Corporation of South Africa (IDC), a national development finance institution, will capitalize on Kinetic Energy’s recent 3.1 billion cubic feet natural gas discovery in Amersfoort, Mpumalanga. The project is expected to produce 50 megawatts (MW) of equivalent energy and eventually expand to…

Saudi Arabia and UAE officially join Brics: What will it mean for the bloc?

Fareed Rahman Jan 01, 2024 The expansion of the Brics bloc to include Saudi Arabia and the UAE is expected to offer new investment opportunities for the Arab world’s two largest economies while boosting the group’s influence globally, analysts said. Saudi Arabia along with the UAE, Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia joined Brics on January 1, doubling its membership to 10, with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa the original members. “Expansion of the Brics multilateral bloc to include Saudi Arabia and UAE augurs extremely well amid ongoing geopolitical and economic challenges confronting the…

Desert to Power Initiative: African Development Fund approves nearly $303 million for Mauritania-Mali electricity interconnection project

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, December 19, 2023/ — The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group (https://apo-opa.co/3trS2Yo) (http://www.AfDB.org), has approved a $302.9 million loan co-financing for a multinational power project that will connect 100,000 households across Mauritania and Mali. The Mauritania-Mali 225kV Electricity Interconnection and Solar Power Plant Development Project form part of the Desert to Power (https://apo-opa.co/3ROS5H3) Initiative. The funds comprise $269.6 million for Mauritania and $33.3 million for Mali. Other partners, including climate funds, will contribute to the project…

Burkina Faso Solar Grandmothers initiative: Global Green Growth Institute’s (GGGI) contribution to the rural energy transition process

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, December 19, 2023/ — History of the “Solar Grandmothers” initiative During the India-Africa Forum held in New Delhi in April 2008, an agreement was reached between the Government of India and the African Union (AU) Commission on pan-African projects for the establishment of regional Barefoot College Training Center in Africa. This was followed by solar energy training for rural women from Burkina Faso in India with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) financial support. In 2018, under the Ministry…

Africa Must Set the Timing for its Energy Transition, Whether the World Likes It or Not

About a year ago, before COP27 began in Egypt, Fiona Harvey and Matthew Taylor wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian that it was time for gas exploration in Africa to stop. “Africa must embrace renewable energy, and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said,” they wrote. This is hardly new. For several years now, wealthy nations and environmental organizations have been…

West Africa’s Energy Transition Offers $1T+ in Investment Opportunities

PARIS, France, December 11, 2023/ — West Africa is home to a diverse landscape of energy players, from mature petroleum producers to emerging gas frontiers. For established markets, the energy transition requires decarbonizing and optimizing existing operations, while bringing renewable energy and carbon capture technologies to the forefront. Meanwhile, frontier markets are seeking to build sustainable energy mixes from the ground up, relying on integrated gas developments to fuel their transition. As a result, an array of partnership and investment opportunities are shaping the region, which European and global investors…

As Conference of the Parties (COP28) Wraps Up, We Must Remember, Aid to Africa Is (Still!) Not the Answer (By NJ Ayuk)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, December 10, 2023/ — By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber (www.EnergyChamber.org). There was an era when Africa and Western pop music were closely linked. Western entertainers spearheaded a number of internationally renowned events to raise awareness about the plight of starving Africans and generate funds for famine relief. In December 1984, the supergroup Band Aid sang about feeding the world, asking “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” Within a year, the group had raised over USD9 million. Three months later, USA for Africa released “We Are the…

South Africa: African Development Bank approves $1 billion guarantee from the United Kingdom to support SA’s Just Energy Transition

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, December 10, 2023/ — The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a $1 billion guarantee program in collaboration with the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which will allow the Bank to increase its lending capacity in support of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET). Developed in close collaboration with the government of the Republic of South Africa, the program will support projects aligned with South Africa’s JET investment plan, such as transmission and grid-balancing storage, renewable energy generation, energy…

  African Countries Should Reject Anti-Fossil Fuel Policies at COP 28

The Executive Chairman of the South Africa based Africa Energy Chamber,N.J.Ayuk  has taken a swipe at the climate agenda describing it as hypocritical, biased, unjust and that it also poses a direct threat towards Africa’s development, and countries should remain resilient in their efforts to defend their right to utilize oil and gas. “With COP 28 set to conclude in the coming days, a COP where African countries fiercely defended the role oil and gas plays across the continent,it has become clear that developed nations seem committed to phasing out…