AfDB lends $145m to construct regional power line
NAIROBI — The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $145m loan to fund the building of an electricity line between Kenya and Tanzania to improve regional power connections, it said.
Read more: AfDB lends $145m to construct regional power line
New Technologies, New Products Making integrated solutions for Biomass Energy industry
As one of the most important professional exhibition in Asia, the 6th International Biomass Energy Conference & Exhibition aims to provide the newest information and integrated solutions for customers. Bioenergy China creates a professional trade
platform under the brand influence of www.cnbioenergy.cn ,www.energysources.cn and Bioenergy Magazine for companies at home and abroad to show the latest products and technologies of biomass energy in Chinese market.
Read more: New Technologies, New Products Making integrated solutions for Biomass Energy industry
Geothermal will lower power costs
If you visit the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa in Iceland, you will be able to take a dive into a natural hot water swimming pool that is heated directly from the belly of the earth. This lagoon is testament to Iceland’s geothermal energy that generates more than 90 per cent of Iceland’s electricity. Kenya too has its fair share of geothermal energy. Hot water springs are a common attraction in places like Lake Bogoria in the Great Rift Valley. You can even boil an egg in these hot springs. But much more than this, you can power a country with the related steam that shoots from the depths.
This steam is so powerful that it has been generating Kenya’s geothermal-powered electricity for more than three decades now. Indeed, Kenya was the first country in Africa to generate electricity from geothermal sources.
This sector has since grown so much that last year in 2013, geothermal generated 773 MW of electricity, second only to hydro which was generating 820 MW. Geothermal has, therefore, played a big role in the country’s electricity access rate of 56 per cent in urban areas and 12 per cent in rural areas.
West Africa’s power sector must be reformed
Electricity reform is needed in Africa to ensure effective regulation, says the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA). According to Mrs Ifeyinwa Ikeonu, a Regulatory Council member of ERERA, reform is a necessary step to any meaningful regulation of the electricity sector.
She shared ERERA’s experience on electricity regulation with the participants, including the delivery of its mandate, the scope of the institution’s responsibilities and powers, its relationship with the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) and the national regulatory agencies in ECOWAS member states, as well as with the other ECOWAS institutions on energy. These include the West African Power Pool (WAPP), the West African Gas Pipeline Authority (WAGPA), the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the Energy Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission.
