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Articles on Renewables in Africa

• Geothermal Energy Could End Power Crisis - World Bank
  Apr 22, 2008 - Rwanda News - All Africa Global Media
  
  Rwanda should seriously consider exploration of geothermal resources because available data indicates significant potential that could solve the energy crisis and electrify the whole country, according to a new World Bank study.
  
  
• Africa plans largest hydroelectric dam in world
  Apr 21, 2008 - Xinhua
  
  A plan to build the largest and most powerful hydroelectric dam in the world is being discussed in London, BBC reported Monday.
  
  
• Summary Report on the International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa (pdf)
  Apr 16-18,2008 - Renewable Energy in Africa Bulletin
  
  The International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa was held at Le Meridien President Hotel in Dakar, Senegal, from 16-18 April 2008. The Conference focused on the theme “making renewable energy markets work for Africa: policies, ndustries and finance for scaling up,” and was jointly organized by the Government of Senegal, the African Union (AU), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). It brought together 500 participants, including: high-level representatives and experts in energy and industry from African countries; representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Regional Economic Communities; and representatives from UN agencies, bilateral organizations, the private sector, as well as regional and international non-governmental organizations.
  
  
• Environmentally Friendly Wind Generator Available for Rural Africa
  Apr 16, 2008 - Voice of America News
  
  An environmentally friendly source of energy is now available in Africa. A wind generator is on display in Cape Town, South Africa and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was created by the California-based group "Pac-Wind," which was founded to meet the need for generator systems that are practical, quiet and reliable and can operate in low wind.
  
  
• How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power
  Dec 2, 2007 - The Observer
  
  £A 5bn solar power plan, backed by a Jordanian prince, could provide the EU with a sixth of its electricity needs - and cut carbon emissions
  Europe is considering plans to spend more than £5bn on a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores of northern Africa and the Middle East.
  
  
• Mozambique rural areas to receive solar panels
  Nov 27, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  Mozambique is to launch a project to provide solar panels to a number of districts which have not been covered by the country's power grid in 2008, local media AIM reported on Tuesday.
  
  
• Clean Power from Desert
  Nov 26, 2007 - The Club of Rome
  
  The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) is an initiative of The Club of Rome, the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation and the National Energy Research Center of Jordan (NERC) in the field of renewable forms of energy. Since it was founded in 2003, it has developed the DESERTEC Concept for energy, water and climate security in EUrope, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA), promoting cooperation between countries of the sun-belt and the technology belt. Now TREC is making this concept a reality in cooperation with people in politics, industry and the world of finance.
  
  
• UNEP poised to stir green energy revolution in E. Africa
  Nov. 8, 2007 - The Associated Press
  
  NAIROBI - A U.N.-backed initiative is set to harvest environment-friendly hydroelectric power from millions of tea and sugar cane growers across East Africa, U.N. officials said Thursday.
  
  
• Germany Looks to North Africa's Untapped Solar Thermal Potential
  Sep 27, 2007 - Jane Burgermeister - RenewableEnergyAccess.com
  
  Vienna, Austria - Flabeg has recently developed a mirror that can reflect 93 percent of the sun's rays.A study by the German Aerospace Center estimated that harnessing the sun's energy falling on just 6,000 square kilometers of desert in North Africa would supply energy equivalent to the entire oil production of the Middle East of 9 billion barrels a year.
  
  
• World Bank Launches Lighting Initiative for Africa
  Sep 9, 2007 - Planet Ark
  
  The World Bank launched an plan on Wednesday to provide inexpensive, safe and cleaner lighting to 250 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to electricity. The project is designed to replace costly and inefficient fuel-based lighting sources, such as kerosene lamps, that pose fire hazards and cause pollution.
  
  
• Mali, Mauritania And Senegal Receive Assistance for Regional Hydroelectric Development
  Aug 26, 2007 - World Bank/All Africa Global Media

  Washington, DC - The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved three International Development Association (IDA) credits*, each for US$25 million equivalent to the Republic of Mali, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Senegal under the US$ 350 million adaptable program lending (APL) facility that supports the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
  

• Zambia to go for solar energy
  Aug 13, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  The Zambian government intends to make solar energy an integral part of its rural electrification program, a government official has said.
  
  
• Ethiopia's geothermal project comes up with encouraging results
  Jul 23, 2007 -- Xinhua
  
  A geothermal project built in Dubti and Tendaho areas of north Ethiopia's Afar State, has come up with encouraging results, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said Monday.
  
  
• Giant dam projects aim to transform African power supplies
  June 19, 2007 - Sarah J. Wachter - International Herald Tribune
  
  PARIS: Maps As the world's political leaders debate ways to alleviate poverty in Africa, industrialists are moving ahead with their own designs for pan-African development - including the building of the world's largest hydroelectric dam at a bend in the Congo River, between Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Atlantic Ocean.
  
  http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/19/business/rnrghydro.php
  
  
• Over 6,000 Ethiopia's rural towns to be electrified next year: minister
  May 14, 2007 - Xinhua
  
  ADDIS ABABAEthiopia's Ministry of Mines and Energy said Monday it has plans to electrify over 6,000 rural towns next year.
  
  
• Zambia Needs $2.1bn for Hydropower Generation
  Feb 9, 2007 All Africa Global Media
  
  Parliament heard yesterday that Zambia needs US$2.1 billion investment to expand hydropower generation and transmission to avoid a looming power shortage in the next five years.
  
  
• African solar farms to solve energy crisis?
  December 5, 2006 - James Murray - Green Business News
  
  It appears the UK government is not the only one busy commissioning reports on combating climate change, the German government has now got in on the act with two major new study's on the viability of a leftfield plan that could deliver clean energy to the whole of Europe within the next forty years.
  http://green.itweek.co.uk/2006/12/african_solar_f.html
  
  
• A Study: Deserts offer cheap source of energy = 1/3 the price of oil
  Nov 21, 2006 - Asia Wind
  
  SAHARA sunshine could provide Europe with clean and cheap energy, according to a study for the German government. Experts said solar energy from north Africa could help to reduce emissions from European power stations by 70 per cent by 2050 as well as providing energy at a cost equivalent to a $20 barrel of oil - about a third of the current price.
  
  http://www.asiawind.com/forums/read.php?f=5&i=1076&t=1076
  
  
• Namibia: Country On Verge of Policy Breakthrough On Renewable Energy
  Nov 21, 2006 Brigitte Weidlich Windhoek The Namibian
  
  NAMIBIA will soon have its own regulatory framework and technical standards for the use of appliances powered by renewable energies such as solar or wind power.
  
  http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210222.html
  
  
• Mali, Mauritina And Senegal Receive Assistance for Regional Hydroelectric Development.
  
  The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved three International Development Association (IDA) credits*, each for US$25 million equivalent to the Republic of Mali, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Senegal under the US$ 350 million adaptable program lending (APL) facility that supports the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) initiative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
  
  http://allafrica.com/stories/200606300671.html
  
  
• Giant Congo hydroelectric project is a 'betrayal'
  Sep 2, 2006 - by Fred Pearce
  
  The heart of darkness could soon be lighting up Africa. There are plans to build the world's largest hydroelectric project on the Congo river and connect it to a continent-wide electricity grid.
  
  
• Mali Turns to Windpower
  Aug 23, 2006 - Appropriate Technology
  
  Mali is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Its electrification rate is just 9 per cent nationwide and less than one per cent in rural regions. In 2001 the country's total electricity generation capacity was 140 MW, with half accounted for by hydroelectric power plants.
  
  http://arizonaenergy.org/News_06/News%20Aug%2006/Mali%20Turns%20to%20Windpower.htm
  
  
• Uganda: Micro-Hydro Sites Identified
  
  THE Japanese delegation to Uganda on August 3 concluded a one-week fact finding mission on potential sites for generating electricity for rural communities.
  
  http://allafrica.com/stories/200608140994.html
  
  
• Notice the sunshine in the desert
  June 21, 2006 - Sanjay suri - IPSnews
  
  A recent United Nations reportsuggests that the Sahara desert could capture enough solar energy to eventually supply all of the world's electricity needs. The report also points to some of the threats such as declining water resources which threaten delicate desert ecosystems.
  
  http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_10710.html
  
  

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