The board of directors of the African Development Bank Group has given approval for an equity investment of up to $25 million in ARCH Africa Renewable Power Fund (ARPF), a $250 million private equity fund for renewable energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa.
ARPF will provide equity for the development and construction of 10 to 15 greenfield renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa, adding approximately 533MW of installed energy generation capacity from renewable sources in the region.
This will provide both base load and peak load power in underserved markets.
ARPF projects will focus on mature technologies including wind, solar PV, small to medium hydro, geothermal and biomass.
These would include grid-connected independent power producers (IPPs), and decentralised energy projects (commercial and industrial solar, mini-grids and solar home systems companies).
The Fund’s strategy is to prioritise projects with a clear timeline to financial close, with emphasis on de-risking early stage greenfield projects.
The Bank’s presence is expected to act as a catalyst for other investors to commit a further $60-75 million equity from non-DFI sources.
The AfDB would also ensure that the highest environmental and social standards, together with climate change and gender considerations, are applied to the ARPF’s projects.
“Energy investments in Africa are constrained by limited well-structured, bankable projects, as well as by unavailability of risk capital. Renewable technologies require additional support to be fully competitive over fossil fuel-based energy generation,” said Amadou Hott, the Bank’s Vice-President for power, energy, climate change & green growth.
“ARPF will expand the pipeline of bankable energy projects in Africa, and complement and deepen the work of the Bank in this critical area. This is vital for economic growth, and to foster transition to low carbon across the continent,” Hott added.
The Fund is expected to reach first close in early 2019. The ARPF anchor investing entity is ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Ltd, a London-based emerging market investment joint venture.
IE Introduces Electronic Pole Taggging
Yemisi Izuora
To further optimize operations through adequate maintenance of installations and reduction of downtime, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), has commenced the electronic tagging of electricity poles across its network.
The exercise known as E-Pole Tagging Project entails labeling of all 11KV and 33KV High Tension (HT) poles with electronic Quick Response (QR) Code stickers. It will accelerate fault clearing, ensure proper record keeping for poles and feeders that need urgent maintenance to bring about stable power distribution to customers.
Speaking on the initiative, Head, Corporate Communication, Ikeja Electric, Mr. Felix Ofulue, said: “At Ikeja Electric, we are consistent and committed to improving our operations in line with best practice in order to give the desirable services to our customers. We are engaging in activities that will provide significant outcome and impact positively on the sector.”
“This consistency shows that we are driven by commitment and passion to add value to the lives of our customers through exploring ways of improving the network,” he said.
The project, according to the company, kicked off two weeks ago and is expected to end by December 31st, 2018. It will cover 274 units of 11KV overhead Feeders and 64 units of 33KV overhead feeders. The electronic stickers are designed in QR Code (Quick Response Code) format. Information about the feeders and poles are embedded into the fiber metallic stickers that are attached to the poles.
These information can be read by scanning the QR Code on the stickers pasted on the poles with any smartphone devices. The scanned information will show the Index Number, Feeder Name, Pole Material Type (Wooden or Concrete), Pole ID, Longitude/Latitude and Pole Structure (Single or Dual Poles).
The initiative will enable the technical team to track work and maintenance history, reducing human error in the upkeep of regular maintenance and speeding up tracking times for new work orders. The project is a continuation of the CETAAM Project contracted to KEPCO.
Part of the recent improvement done by the DisCo include upgrading of the PTC Undertaking at Ikeja GRA to offer a highly effective Point-of-Sales self-service, fully automated Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) and well-trained Executives Sales Representative.
Other projects executed to scale up supply across our network also include commissioning of the Mushin 1x15MVA Injection Substation and the New Oworo 15 MVA Injection Sub-Station.
Towards the end of last year, IE carried out a thorough rehabilitation of the Agege Injection Substation with the replacement of two obsolete high voltage switchgears, while it has also set up a Preventive Maintenance Team to check failure of equipment and guarantee stable power supply.
