Friday, 19 November

Dear <<First Name>>

This time last week the world was holding its collective breath, waiting to find out the final outcomes of the landmark climate talks in Glasgow. In the end we had to hold it for quite some time, with COP26 President Alok Sharma only bringing down the gavel on the Glasgow Climate Pact late on Saturday.

For people who were (perfectly understandably) hoping for an “on track for 1.5C” breakthrough, the deal will no doubt have been a disappointment, with the world now on a 2.4C trajectory if 2030 pledges made at COP26 are honoured. A last-minute - and ultimately successful - scramble by India to water down wording around coal, certainly dealt a hefty blow to the deal, but nonetheless I feel there is still good reason to be cautiously optimistic as we now look to COP27 in Egypt next year and beyond.

In his must-read reflections on the conference, Camco’s General Counsel and COP26 speaker Karl Upston-Hooper cites American physicist John Wheeler, who said, “Time is nature's way to keep everything from happening all at once”. And I think this neatly sums up not just what did and didn’t happen in Glasgow, but also the COP conferences’ overall response to the juggernaut that is climate change. Reaching consensus between 197 nations on how to deal with an existential crisis is of course going to be extremely difficult, and if we are ever to keep global warming to within “acceptable limits”, it is not going to be overnight, no matter how much we may all wish for that to be the case. 

Cheers

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco Clean Energy
 

Read REPP’s latest annual report

West Africa

Burkina Faso: Four new solar plants to add 110MWp to the national grid (Afrik21)
- The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) will lend EUR90 million for the 
project.

West Africa: USTDA to fund feasibility study led by the West African Power Pool (PumpsAfrica)
- The study will assess the viability of a new transmission line from the Ivory Coast to Liberia.

East Africa

Malawi: USD1 billion deal made with Egyptian electrical company (ESI-Africa)
- The investment aims to boost the nation’s economy through renewable energy deployment.

Tanzania: More than 10,000 villages connected to electricity through the Rural Electrification Project (ConstructionReview)
- Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said the country’s remaining 1,956 villages will be connected by December 2022.

Southern Africa

Botswana: JinkoSolar and Apex Solar launch new energy storage solution (ESI-Africa)
- A product offering event in Gabarone was attended by local customers, the government and media.

South Africa: French company awarded construction of three 140MW wind farms (EngineeringNews)
- EDF Renewables is developing the projects under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (“REIPPP”).

Zimbabwe: USD2.5 million solar power plant commissioned in Harare (Afrik21)
- The Zimbabwean subsidiary of South African financial services group Old Mutual hopes to lessen power supply problems with the plant.

Africa - general

Algeria: Sonatrach to develop solar park using its own funds (Afrik21)
- The 10MWp project will power oil sites in the region.

Africa: International donors pledge USD136 million at COP26 (Afrik21)
- The funding is for the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.

Renewable energy: Husk Power to deploy 5,000 mini-grids in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 (ThisDay)
- The solar-centred company announced their plans at COP26.

Rest of World

Climate summit: The 27th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27) is to be held in Egypt (WashingtonPost)
- The sandy beaches and clear water of resort town Sharm el-Sheikh will be a sharp contrast from the cold rain of Glasgow.

Climate summit: COP26 keeps 1.5c alive and finalises Paris Agreement (COP26)
- Nearly 200 countries agreed to the Glasgow Climate Pact as the climate talks concluded in Glasgow on Saturday.

Share this newsletter!

Currencies