News Update: Africa's first green iron plant, solar and geothermal energy boost, and more
Industry and Investment News
Hi all,
it’s time again for our news roundup covering Sub-Saharan Africa.
My highlights from this week:
🏗️ Construction has begun on Africa’s first decarbonized iron plant in Namibia, which will be powered exclusively by green hydrogen.
🌍 Africa is on track to surpass Europe in geothermal energy capacity by 2030.
🌞 The removal of fuel subsidies is accelerating the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria. It makes investments in renewable energy and electric vehicles more attractive. Bloomberg reports that, in Nigeria, the projected annual construction of solar energy infrastructure until 2030 has increased almost eightfold following the removal of fossil fuel subsidies.
More below.
Investor news
😍 Good News:
AfDB approves $300M loan to support South Africa’s energy transition and Climate Resilience Programme
UK injects $14m into Uganda Climate Finance Accelerator programme
South African bank to launch US$1bn green energy fund to support the country’s shift towards renewable energy
US Export-Import Bank pushes Africa renewables increasing its overall exposure to $7 billion in the region
Germany commits EUR 23m to back South Africa’s green hydrogen economy
Arab Co-ordination Group to allocate $50bn for projects in Africa focused on energy security and transition, regional integration and trade finance
The Kigali-based Norrsken22 has closed its first African technology growth fund at US$205 million, surpassing its target.
👎 Challenges:
As climate impacts accelerate, finance gap for adaptation efforts at least 50% bigger than thought - now estimated to be US$194-366 billion per year
17 out of the 20 countries most threatened by climate change are in Africa, but there are still solutions to this crisis
The Chinese government has suspended funding for African energy projects pushing lending to the continent to below $1 billion, the lowest in 20 years.
Industry News
🥑 Agriculture/ Food systems:
Ghana: Africa is emerging as a sustainable food basket to fill Europe’s off-season produce needs with large vegetable farms like the one of Dr. Felix Kamassah's.
Namibia: Namibia launches first seed bank to safeguard local seed varieties to promote biodiversity and ensure food security
🌳 Ecosystems
South Africa: Marketplace for trading environmental assets has opened to tap into expected boom in carbon credit demand in the country.
Kenya: The Carbon Value Exchange successfully closed seed round of US$ 6m led by E3 capital to scale digital carbon financing platform
💡 Energy and infrastructure
Geothermal: Africa will overtake Europe in geothermal capacity by 2030. The sector is expected to attract $35 billion investments by 2050.
Zimbabwe: Chinese companies to invest $2.8 billion in lithium mining and energy dwarfing investments of the UAE, which won licenses to invest $500mn.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister signs 5 memorandums of understanding with Ethiopia, Chad, Senegal, Nigeria and Rwanda in sustainability push
Nigeria: The abrupt decision to end fuel subsidies (prices spiked 175% overnight) jumpstarts solar build and distribution to the mass-market
South Africa: Eskom unveils largest battery storage project in South Africa designed to store 100MWh of energy
South Africa: WiSolar launches utility-scale prepaid solar electricity after rejecting $1.5m loan
🚕 Mobility and transport systems
South Africa: South Africa is looking to partner with other African countries to pool critical mineral resources to manufacture electric vehicles.
South Africa: Chargify collaborates with Mercedes-Benz to add over 120 charging stations across the country
Kenya: BasiGo wins Mobility & Logistics award at global startup awards Africa with their innovative Pay-As-You-Drive model
Nigeria: Fez Delivery, a leading last-mile delivery service connecting businesses and markets, launched “FEZ ECO,” its innovative line of electric bikes.
🏭 Industrialisation
Namibia: Construction started of Africa’s first decarbonised iron plant powered exclusively by green hydrogen
Kenya: WHO prequalifies first African-manufactured malaria drug by Kenya-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Universal Corporation Ltd
Kenya: Bio-Logical secures $1 Million to build Africa’s largest biochar production facility to transform 30,000 tonnes of agricultural waste annually
🌆 Urban areas
Property investors in Africa are increasingly opting for dollar-denominated return projects and green buildings, especially in the industrial, residential, life sciences and data centre sectors.
Kenya: Kenyan AVLC Group has been picked to oversee the construction of Kasangulu Smart City - a 40 hectares smart city in Kinshasa
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Thanks for reading,
Carolin