In a continent the place 600 million folks don’t have any entry to electrical energy, you will need to faucet into any renewable useful resource that’s accessible. Africa has wealthy wind sources and may get a lot of its wanted energy from the wind. From the recordsdata of Afrik21, we learn of many wind farm tasks — from the giga to the mega. Get out your map and have a good time these steps of progress with me as wind powers extra of Africa.

For extra from this area, I’ve beforehand written about electrical autos in Africa and the progress of mini grids to harness photo voltaic vitality.

Egypt — mega and giga

Pink Sea Wind Vitality (RSWE) is growing its second wind farm within the Gulf of Suez in Egypt close to the city of Ras Ghareb. Financing is being offered by the Japan Financial institution for Worldwide Cooperation (JBIC) in coordination with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Company, Norinchukin Financial institution, and the French financial institution Société Générale. Collectively, they are going to allow the 500MW undertaking to go forward.

Chinese language funding in Africa has elevated tenfold lately. Japan desires to stability that. Based on the United Nations Convention on Commerce and Growth (UNCTAD), China’s investments in East Africa reached $8.2 billion in 2021.

The Ras Ghareb wind farm has been beneath building since November 2022 and is anticipated to start out business operations within the third quarter of 2025.

“Based on RSWE, the wind farm beneath building will be capable to present clear electrical energy to greater than 800,000 Egyptian households. It can additionally assist speed up Egypt’s transition to renewable vitality era and scale back CO2 emissions by roughly 1 million tons per yr after it comes on-line. For the document, RSWE is owned by a consortium consisting of French vitality firm Engie (35%), Egyptian flagship Orascom Building (25%), Japanese investor Toyota Tsusho Company (20%), and its compatriot Eurus Vitality Holdings Company (20%).”

As well as, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Energy is planning to construct a 1,100 MW wind farm in Egypt by 2026.

Dwarfing the RSWE wind farm would be the proposed 10,000 MW Masdar mega wind farm. Maybe we should always name it a giga wind farm. This can turn into the biggest renewable vitality undertaking in North Africa, requiring an funding of $10 billion. The land has now been bought.

“That is the undertaking of a consortium fashioned by the Emirati vitality firm Masdar; Hassan Allam Utilities, the subsidiary of the Egyptian group Hassan Allam Holding; and Infinity Energy, a three way partnership between the Egyptian firm Infinity Vitality and Masdar.”

Some considerations have been expressed by environmentalists, because the land bought for the mega undertaking within the Gulf of Suez is positioned on the migratory route of many chook species from Europe to winter in Africa, primarily within the Nice Lakes area. There’s a proposal to cease the generators through the passage of migratory birds.

The wind farm, which will likely be able to producing 47,790 GWh of electrical energy per yr, is anticipated to scale back Egypt’s annual emissions by round 9% and save a minimum of $5 billion on the price of pure fuel. At present, Egypt produces nearly 60% of its electrical energy from fuel. Egypt has a strategic objective to acquire 42% of its vitality from renewable sources by 2030.

South Africa

In South Africa, Pink Rocket, an unbiased energy producer, is constructing three wind farms: the Brandvalley, the Rietkloof and the Wolf. These will likely be located within the Japanese and Western Cape and have a mixed capability of 373 MW.

“Vestas will provide and set up 64 V150-4.5 MW generators, 12 V163-4.5 MW generators and 5 Enventus V162-6.2 MW generators. The corporate can even preserve the three wind farms beneath a 15-year ‘Energetic Output Administration 5000 (AOM 5000)’ contract.

“’The tasks will present R740 million ($40.6 million) of group funding over 20 years by way of native social tasks. The wind farms will likely be operational by 2024,’ says Matteo Brambilla, Pink Rocket’s managing director.

“As soon as operational, the Brandvalley, Rietkloof and Wolf wind farms will likely be able to producing 1,500 GWh of unpolluted electrical energy every year. Vestas has offered generators for a number of wind farms in South Africa with 1.3 GW capability put in or beneath building.

“Additionally in South Africa, the 89 MW Fortress wind farm has begun building. The power will present clear electrical energy for Sibanye-Stillwater’s mining operations close to the city of De Aar, within the Northern Cape province.

“The farm will comprise 16 Goldwind 6 MW generators and will likely be linked to the nationwide grid by way of the Hydra foremost transmission station owned by state-owned Eskom.

“’This undertaking marks our first main step in implementing our portfolio of over 550 MW of renewable tasks and is a crucial milestone in our journey in the direction of carbon neutrality by 2040. The undertaking is not going to solely play a key function in lowering carbon emissions and mitigating local weather change, however can even ship Sibanye-Stillwater electrical energy financial savings and vitality safety for operations in South Africa,’ says Neal Froneman, Sibanye-Stillwater’s Chief Government Officer.”

Kenya

Kenya boasts the Lake Turkana wind farm. It’s the largest in East Africa, with a capability of 310.25 MW.

365 wind generators are unfold over an space of 160 km2 within the district of Loiyangalani, in Marsabit County, about 545 km by highway north of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The wind farm is roofed by a 20-year energy buy settlement (PPA) signed between Lake Turkana Wind Energy and the state-owned Kenya Energy Firm.

Wind powers Africa.

Namibia

Namibia is quickly to have a brand new 50 MW wind farm collectively funded by China Vitality Engineering Company (CEEC) and the Namibian firm Riminii Investments. The farm will likely be located 16 km from the southern metropolis of Lüderitz within the Karas area on the Atlantic Ocean at a value of $76.6 million.

“The undertaking will make a big contribution to NamPower’s provide portfolio when mixed with different era tasks which are a part of its built-in technique and marketing strategy,” says Kahenge Haulofu, NamPower’s managing director.

Namibia imports 60% of its electrical energy from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa. These international locations are experiencing their very own vitality crises, making energy provide precarious. At present, seven clear vitality vegetation are linked to Namibia’s nationwide energy grid, with a mixed capability of 76.5 MW. The additional 50 MW will likely be welcome.

Africa

Is it regarding that a lot capital to determine these tasks is coming from the developed world? I hope we’re not seeing a brand new type of colonialism — capital used to develop renewable vitality tasks might promote dependence and never independence for Africa. Wind powers Africa, however ultimately, it stays to be seen who will personal the electricity-generating sources.