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Africa’s biggest solar and wind energy projects
Mia
Established Member

Africa is embracing renewable energy. The need to improve and broaden electricity via environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies has seen renewable energy plants mushroom throughout the continent, all on course to more than quadruple output by 2030 to 22%, compared to today’s 5%.

  

Presently, northern Africa and South Africa account for the majority of the electricity generated on the continent, but other African countries are fast catching up; Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zambia, for example, are exploiting geothermal, solar and wind power projects, creating new jobs, bolstering industry and boosting their economies in the process. Here, we look at a few of the biggest wind and solar projects that have or are taking shape on the continent.

 

Solar plants:

 

Ghana:

In 2016, Ghana connected a 20 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant to its national grid. Developed by Chinese technology firm Beijing Xiaocheng Company, the plant is the largest PV installation in the West African nation to date.

 

Located about 70km from Accra, the solar plant has eased Ghana’s energy crisis.

 

South Africa:

The largest solar plant in Africa, the Middle East and the Southern Hemisphere is located just outside De Aar, a small desert town in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.

De Aar Solar Power generates sufficient electrical energy to meet the needs of 19 000 average South African households, supplied via the national grid.

 

Uganda:

Uganda launched East Africa's largest privately-funded solar power plant in 2016, a USD19 million affair boasting a nominal capacity of 10MV, scalable to 20MV and, in future, 30MW.

Currently, the plant can power over 40 000 rural households in the eastern part of the country, where it is located.

 

Wind energy farms:

 

Egypt:

The 720MW Zafarana Wind Farm is located in Egypt’s desert region; 120 kilometres south of Suez on the Red Sea. Situated in one of the windiest parts of Africa, the farm is actually a collection of wind energy farms that has been extended for almost two decades.

 

Zafarana has 50 wind turbines, all of which can produce 600MW of electricity.

 

Kenya:

Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Farm was built by a group of local and foreign firms, and is often referred to as Kenya’s single largest private investment. Construction began two years ago and is expected to be complete by 2018.

Lake Turkana.PNG

Covering 162km² of land in the Loiyangali District, this power project can generate 850KW of energy through each one of its 365 turbines. That’s a combined output 310 MW, approximately 17% of Kenya’s installed energy capacity.

 

Morocco:

Spread over almost 9 000 hectares of land, Morocco’s Tarfaya Wind Farm has 131 wind turbines, each with a capacity to produce 2.3 MW of electricity, or a combined output of 301MW. Tarfaya can provide power for 1.5 million households.

 

Located on the South Atlantic coast of Morocco, the wind farm is a joint venture between GDF SUEZ and Nareva Holding.

 

Read more about Standard Bank's Power and Infrustructure sector here.

 

Sources: Africanews.com, Africabusinessreview.co.za, face2faceafrica.com, edition.cnn.com, wikipedia.org, energyzedworld.com, cleantechnica.com.

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