Sixty-seven-year old Sarudzai Msipa heavily blows air in and out of her mouth, seated in the open-air on a goat skin mat outside her hut as she battles to revive a dying fire on her cooking place set up in the middle of her yard at her remote home in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province. Just three sticks are in the fire to keep it alive and there is no sign of leftover firewood nearby.
Today, the European Commission launched two new programmes to enhance security and boost the infrastructure development in the region. One support programme, worth €20 million, will improve the regional governance of key infrastructure such as road and air transport, energy, IT and communication. Removing infrastructure barriers in this way can increase currently limited trade capacities and reduce related instabilities.
The discussion and inputs resulting from the 5th Annual SEforALL Africa Workshop will flow into the strategic work areas of the SEforALL Africa Hub and the National SEforALL Secretariats.More than 750 leaders from government, business, civil society and international organizations will gather from 2nd to 4th to May 2018 in Lisbon for the 4TH SEforALL Forum with the title: “Leaving No One Behind”. The Forum will examine the latest data on progress — or lack of — in achieving SDG7 goals. A highlight will be the launch of the 2018 Global Tracking Framework report, which benchmarks annual progress towards achieving universal access to modern energy services, doubling renewable energy and improving energy efficiency by 2030.
The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has started the final lap of the spillway rehabilitation procurement process with the launch of the works tender to a shortlist of pre-qualified companies. The procurement is expected to be completed in time for the works contract to be awarded by the last quarter of 2018, according to a statement released on Wednesday. The spillway rehabilitation is being funded jointly by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Government of Sweden.
The Namibia Red Cross Society with support from the European Union (EU) has launched a renewable energy initiative at Muyako village, in efforts to mitigate climate change. According to the Namibian, Zambezi Red Cross board chairperson Innocent Mahoto said the project aims to promote the use of various forms of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in 10 selected rural communities of the Zambezi, Kavango East and Kavango West regions. "Selected small-scale farmers of which most are in off-grid electricity areas will benefit from the installation of renewable energy in community gardens that will facilitate a responsible and environmentally friendly use of resources," said Mahoto.
Spain is exploring investment opportunities in Zimbabwe's energy sector as relations between the two countries grow stronger. Zimbabwe-Spain relations are being reinforced following the coming into power of a new dispensation and a subsequent visit by a special envoy sent by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to Madrid in March. Speaking after paying a courtesy call on Energy and Power Development Minister Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo, Spanish ambassador to Zimbabwe Alicia Moral said she has been meeting with various cabinet ministers in a bid to deepen economic collaboration between the two countries in different areas.
Unilever Tea recently signed an agreement with Cross-Boundary Energy for the installation and operation of a 600kW solar power plant at the company’s Kericho tea plantation in Kenya. The plant is expected to start producing power in mid-2018 with Unilever to pay monthly power bills generated by Cross Boundary Energy who will finance and operate the plant for 15 years. The solar plant is the first commercial and industrial power purchase agreement for the company in Africa and is expected to deliver substantial savings on power costs and reduce its carbon emissions by over 10,000 tonnes over the plant’s 30-year lifetime.
During an official visit to Tanzania, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica signed a €50 million programme to support rural electrification in the country. The new financing agreement will support the access of Tanzanian citizens to affordable and sustainable energy through extending energy grids as well as expanding distribution networks. During the signing ceremony, Commissioner Mimica said: "Our important programme worth €50 million will help accelerate the Tanzanian people's access to modern energy. It will provide electricity to over 3600 villages in rural regions of Tanzania, essentially benefitting 1 million people. And this access to energy is vital: it will increase the quality of life in rural areas, improve health and educational services and bring clear benefits, particularly to women and children."
On 20 November, in New York, the Commissioner in charge of International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica and the President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr Warren Smith, announced the formalisation of an EU grant contribution to the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Programme for the Eastern Caribbean. The Programme will facilitate the development of up to 60MW of geothermal energy capacity in up to five countries – Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The European Union will sign in the coming weeks a EUR-18-million (USD 21m) financing agreement to support renewable energy in Cuba, state news agency Prensa Latina reported. Details on the use of the funds are not available. The agreement, to be approved by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, is part of the Agreement on Political Dialogue and Bilateral Cooperation, which entered into force earlier this month, the EU ambassador in Cuba, Alberto Navarro told the news agency.