SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Solar energy capacity to reach 200MW next year
Published
3 years agoon

Kampala, Uganda. Xsabo Group says they plan to build another three projects, which will bring the number to five plants with a total installed capacity of 150 MW, worth a total investment of 735 Billion Shillings.
The company received funding for the Mubende project worth 63 Billion Shillings from the Uganda Development Bank and the DFCU Bank.
Uganda will have a total installed capacity of 2000MW when the delayed opening of the Karuma hydropower project happens this year. It was due for commissioning last year by the constrictors, but Synohydro of China asked for an extension of the date saying the works were at 98% completion.
The government embarked on a more complex energy mix to improve stability of supply, involving Hydro, geothermal, thermal, solar and wind energy.
Solar, one of the cleanest renewable sources is also considered the cheapest to maintain.
However, according to Julius Wandera, the head of corporate affairs at the Electricity Regulatory Authority, solar energy is also unreliable as a major source because Uganda’s weather is unpredictable.
When you are expecting a plant to give you 8 megawatts, a cloud comes and covers it, and you end up with no or less power,” he says. But he maintains that it is important to supplement the more reliable sources like thermal and hydro, despite the latter being more expensive.
According to studies at the Ministry of Energy, Uganda on average has enough sunshine to produce 5.1-kilowatt house per square meter.
Electricity demand is increasing at a rate of 8.2% annually, which translates to 125,000 new customers every year. Currently, four large solar power plants sell power to the national grid.
These include the Bufulubi in Mayuge District, the Tororo Plant and the Soroti plant, all 10MW each, as well as the largest one, the 20MW Kabulasoke solar energy plant in Mpigi district, also owned by Xsabo Group.
A 50 MW Namugoga Solar Power Station, in Wakiso District, planned for constriction by Solar Energy for Africa and Naanovo Energy Inc will be the largest yet if finished later this year. Small solar applications are often used in rural electrification projects such as Solar Home Systems or solar water heating.
The small off-grid systems come in handy because of some sparsely populated areas in Uganda where it would be less cost-effective to extend grid lines, according to the strategy.
For that, the government estimates that over 30% of the population is unlikely to be reached for the next several decades unless more investments are pout in small off-grid home systems. According to the Uganda Solar Energy Association, over 30,000 solar or photovoltaic (PV) systems have already been installed in homes in rural areas.
The 10-year Rural Electrification Strategy ending 2022 indicates that off-grid connections are supposed to have grown by 135,500 connections, with 95% of them being solar. The off-grid connection numbers are supported by the growing number of supply and distribution companies that offer products on credit or hire-purchase, where a customer pays for as low as 500 Shillings per day.
In 2013, the government awarded a contract to Ergon Solair, a Taiwanese-US venture to build a 500MW solar plant divided into two four parks of 125MW each. It was supposed to be completed by 2016. It would be the largest solar plant in Africa and the world alongside the 500MW Noor Solar Complex in the Agadir district of Morocco.
In February, the China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) announced plans to build a 500MW solar power plant in Uganda in two phases. The Electricity Regulatory Authority-ERA said they had not received any notification of that kind from the Chinese company.
Xsabo is also implementing another project dubbed the Xsabo Lira Power Station or Xsabo Lira Solarline, a US$45 million, with a capacity to generate 50 MW. This is a public-private partnership between Xsabo and Lira District Administration and is also expected to be completed by December 2022, completing a total investment by Xsabo of about 200 Million United States Dollars.
Original Source: URN via independent.co.ug
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DEFENDING LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
Statement: The Energy Sector Strategy 2024–2028 Must Mark the End of the EBRD’s Support to Fossil Fuels
Published
2 months agoon
September 27, 2023
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is due to publish a new Energy Sector Strategy before the end of 2023. A total of 130 civil society organizations from over 40 countries have released a statement calling on the EBRD to end finance for all fossil fuels, including gas.
From 2018 to 2021, the EBRD invested EUR 2.9 billion in the fossil energy sector, with the majority of this support going to gas. This makes it the third biggest funder of fossil fuels among all multilateral development banks, behind the World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank.
The EBRD has already excluded coal and upstream oil and gas fields from its financing. The draft Energy Sector Strategy further excludes oil transportation and oil-fired electricity generation. However, the draft strategy would continue to allow some investment in new fossil gas pipelines and other transportation infrastructure, as well as gas power generation and heating.
In the statement, the civil society organizations point out that any new support to gas risks locking in outdated energy infrastructure in places that need investments in clean energy the most. At the same time, they highlight, ending support to fossil gas is necessary, not only for climate security, but also for ensuring energy security, since continued investment in gas exposes countries of operation to high and volatile energy prices that can have a severe impact on their ability to reach development targets. Moreover, they underscore that supporting new gas transportation infrastructure is not a solution to the current energy crisis, given that new infrastructure would not come online for several years, well after the crisis has passed.
The signatories of the statement call on the EBRD to amend the Energy Sector Strategy to
- fully exclude new investments in midstream and downstream gas projects;
- avoid loopholes involving the use of unproven or uneconomic technologies, as well as aspirational but meaningless mitigation measures such as “CCS-readiness”; and
- strengthen the requirements for financial intermediaries where the intended nature of the sub-transactions is not known to exclude fossil fuel finance across the entire value chain.
Source: iisd.org
Download the statement: https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-09/ngo-statement-on-energy-sector-strategy-2024-2028.pdf
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Will more sovereign wealth funds mean less food sovereignty?
Published
8 months agoon
April 13, 2023
- 45% of Louis Dreyfus Company, with its massive land holdings in Latin America, growing sugarcane, citrus, rice and coffee;
- a majority stake in Unifrutti, with 15,000 ha of fruit farms in Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Philippines, Spain, Italy and South Africa; and
- Al Dahra, a large agribusiness conglomerate controlling and cultivating 118,315 ha of farmland in Romania, Spain, Serbia, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US.
Sovereign wealth funds invested in farmland/food/agriculture (2023)
|
|||
Country
|
Fund
|
Est.
|
AUM (US$bn)
|
China
|
CIC
|
2007
|
1351
|
Norway
|
NBIM
|
1997
|
1145
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADIA
|
1967
|
993
|
Kuwait
|
KIA
|
1953
|
769
|
Saudi Arabia
|
PIF
|
1971
|
620
|
China
|
NSSF
|
2000
|
474
|
Qatar
|
QIA
|
2005
|
450
|
UAE – Dubai
|
ICD
|
2006
|
300
|
Singapore
|
Temasek
|
1974
|
298
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
Mubadala
|
2002
|
284
|
UAE – Abu Dhabi
|
ADQ
|
2018
|
157
|
Australia
|
Future Fund
|
2006
|
157
|
Iran
|
NDFI
|
2011
|
139
|
UAE
|
EIA
|
2007
|
91
|
USA – AK
|
Alaska PFC
|
1976
|
73
|
Australia – QLD
|
QIC
|
1991
|
67
|
USA – TX
|
UTIMCO
|
1876
|
64
|
USA – TX
|
Texas PSF
|
1854
|
56
|
Brunei
|
BIA
|
1983
|
55
|
France
|
Bpifrance
|
2008
|
50
|
UAE – Dubai
|
Dubai World
|
2005
|
42
|
Oman
|
OIA
|
2020
|
42
|
USA – NM
|
New Mexico SIC
|
1958
|
37
|
Malaysia
|
Khazanah
|
1993
|
31
|
Russia
|
RDIF
|
2011
|
28
|
Turkey
|
TVF
|
2017
|
22
|
Bahrain
|
Mumtalakat
|
2006
|
19
|
Ireland
|
ISIF
|
2014
|
16
|
Canada – SK
|
SK CIC
|
1947
|
16
|
Italy
|
CDP Equity
|
2011
|
13
|
China
|
CADF
|
2007
|
10
|
Indonesia
|
INA
|
2020
|
6
|
India
|
NIIF
|
2015
|
4
|
Spain
|
COFIDES
|
1988
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
NSIA
|
2011
|
3
|
Angola
|
FSDEA
|
2012
|
3
|
Egypt
|
TSFE
|
2018
|
2
|
Vietnam
|
SCIC
|
2006
|
2
|
Gabon
|
FGIS
|
2012
|
2
|
Morocco
|
Ithmar Capital
|
2011
|
2
|
Palestine
|
PIF
|
2003
|
1
|
Bolivia
|
FINPRO
|
2015
|
0,4
|
AUM (assets under management) figures from Global SWF, January 2023
|
|||
Engagement in food/farmland/agriculture assessed by GRAIN
|
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SPECIAL REPORTS AND PROJECTS
Farmland values hit record highs, pricing out farmers
Published
1 year agoon
November 21, 2022

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