Construction World April 2017

COMMENT

It is a well-known fact that Africa needs in the region of USD800-billion to develop its power infrastructure. Despite this seemingly insurmountable task, there are many African projects that illustrate how the African demand for electricity can be met. Two of these are the Power Africa initiative and Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, an initiative that is close to being realised and that has the potential of generating an impressive 6 000 MW of hydropower. Power Africa In 2013, Power Africa was launched to bring together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world to work in partnership to increase the number The African (and particularly) South African power and electricity woes are well known. For example, two out of three people in sub- Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. Yet, according to the organisers of the Power & Electricity World Africa (PEWA), Terrapinn, it holds vast opportunities too. About PEWA PEWA has been taking place for 20 years and is Africa’s largest and longest running power and electricity exhibition and conference. It was held on 28 and 29 March. It focused on innovative and cost-effective ways to tackle Africa’s electricity and water challenges. It featured the Solar Show Africa, Energy Efficiency Africa Show and was collocated with the WaterShow Africa. At the time of writing, organisers indicated that the number of pre-registered visitors were 75% higher, sponsorships had increased by 50% and upwards of 40 African countries were participating (versus the 33 of 2016).

The fact that there are so few female engineers in the consulting engineering industry has raised serious concerns about transformation in general. The construction of the dam, started in April 2011, is expected to create up to 12 000 jobs. The main contractor of the dam is the Italian company Salini Costruttori. of people with access to power in Africa. It aims to generate 30 000 MW of new and clean power energy with which 60 000 million new electricity connections will be created. Its Power Africa Tracking Tool tracks power projects as they progress through the development pipeline. Its website states that the numbers that are shown reflect deals that Power Africa's deal tracking application has made publicly available. However, Power Africa also internally tracks approximately 700 transactions that have the potential to add over 70 000 MW. Ethiopia puts Africa on the dam map Currently nearing completion, The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. At 6 000 MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed, as well as the 7 th largest in the world. The dam is currently nearly complete, but will take between five and 15 years to fill with water.

Wilhelm du Plessis Editor

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EDITOR & DEPUTY PUBLISHER Wilhelm du Plessis constr@crown.co.za ADVERTISING MANAGER Erna Oosthuizen ernao@crown.co.za LAYOUT & DESIGN Lesley Testa CIRCULATION Karen Smith

PUBLISHER Karen Grant

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2017