are Archives - Page 2 of 19 - AfricaBusiness.com

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

How will South African industry deal with tariff hikes and carbon taxes?

African Utility Week to assist Large Power Users to face energy obstacles The proverbial axe is falling on ‘business as usual` as every industry in South Africa, from mining to manufacturing to retail, is cringing at the thought of rising energy tariffs and the impending implementation of a carbon tax. Stemming the tide of rising tariffs On the receiving end of tariff hikes, industry is dealing with three significant elements, namely the cost of electricity, uncertainty around sufficient electricity supply and carbon emission management. According to Shaun Nel, Project Director & Advisor, Energy Intensive Users Group of Southern Africa (EIUG), “the current request by Eskom to raise electricity prices by 16% per annum over 5 years will have a significantly negative ...

13Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

African Banking innovation sees AfDB approving multi-currency line of credit of USD 300m

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa The African Development Bank has extended the equivalent of USD 300 million to FirstRand Bank Limited to support projects across Africa This week an announcement from Tunis, Tunisia, revealed that the African Development Bank has approved a seven-year multi-currency line of credit for an amount equivalent to USD 300 million to FirstRand Bank Limited (FRB) of South Africa to finance a wide range of projects in local currencies and across Africa. And most African countries are characterized by low discretionary rates of domestic savings. As a result, the intermediation capacity of the financial sectors is limited, leading to the gap currently being filled with borrowings denominated in foreign currency. However, this introduces a currency mismatch in the fi...

12Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

JinkoSolar to Supply 81 MW WBHO-Building Energy in South Africa

SHANGHAI, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. ("JinkoSolar" or the "Company") (NYSE: JKS), a leading global solar power product manufacturer, today announced that it has signed a contract with fix price to supply WBHO-Building Energy (Pty) Ltd. ("WBHO-BE") with 81 MW of photovoltaic (PV) modules for the solar PV park project in Gamagara Local Municipality, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The project will be developed, designed, constructed and commissioned by WBHO- BE and is, so far, the largest project in African Continent and one of the first approved under the South African government's Renewable Energy Program. JinkoSolar will deliver a total of 344,540 PV high quality solar panels for the project, which is expected to generate...

4Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy

SunPower Corporation to Supply Toshiba with 20.1 Percent Efficiency Solar Panel for Japanese Market

New 20.1 Percent Efficiency Module Continues Toshiba’s High Efficiency Leadership in Japanese Residential Market SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) today announced that it will supply Toshiba with its new world-record efficiency solar panel beginning in December, extending Toshiba’s solar efficiency leadership in the Japanese residential market. SunPower’s new E20/250NE solar panel features a 20.1 percent efficiency rating delivering 250 watts per 72-cell module, and will be marketed exclusively by Toshiba in the Japanese homes segment. The module features the all-back contact Maxeon™ solar cell designed and manufactured by SunPower Corporation which offers world-record efficiency. Since SunPower first partnered with Toshiba in 2010, it has de...

3Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Airtel and Ericsson making history in African network transformation

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Airtel has completed the largest network transformation in African Telecoms history - and is partnering with Ericsson for the comprehensive upgrade of a network to deliver superior service. Otherwise known as Bharti Airtel, the leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, recently said that it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation program across its mobile operations in 16 African countries. The program, which is the largest of its kind on the African continent, in partnership with Ericsson involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging, and consumer-services platforms and sys...

27Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, South Africa News

The call to make Cape Town a ‘Smart City’ is getting serious

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa Further calls to make Cape Town a 'Smart City' continue to increase. One of the people in the forefront of these calls is Chris Whelan, CEO of business think-tank Accelerate Cape Town. Whelan says, “Developing a ‘smart city’, where information and communication technology (ICT) is leveraged to provide excellent service and which significantly contributes to a business environment conducive to both foreign and domestic investment, is an important part of positioning Cape Town as Africa’s global city, a city of innovation and inspiration.” According to Whelan, enabling technology exploitation in education, healthcare, transport, and safety and security all contribute to the development of a ‘smart city’. “One of the most exciting steps the city is taking...

21Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

Africa’s Energy Stakeholders Embrace “Global Technology for Local Solutions”

The timing of the first POWER-GEN Africa and Renewable Energy World Africa, which took place from 6-8 November 2012 in Johannesburg could not have been more favourable as the first contracts between the South African government and independent power producers (IPPs) to add 1400 megawatts of renewable energy to the national grid was signed during the week of the event. Explains Nigel Blackaby, Event Director and Director of International Conferences at event organisers, PennWell Corporation, “this underscores the importance and significance of hosting a globally representative power generation exhibition and conference such as POWER-GEN Africa and Renewable Energy World Africa, which is aimed at linking professionals in the energy generation industry of Africa with lead...

20Nov

By Chancy NamadzundaNo Comments

African News

Airtel Malawi launches new promotion, Timaitha Fiesta

By Chancy Nanadzunda Airtel Malawi on Tuesday launched a new promotion called Timaitha Fiesta with an aim of enriching its customers’ day to day lives. Speaking at the launch, Airtel Malawi Deputy Managing Director Maurice Newa the promotion will see 32 people from every district winning a scholarship valued at K100 000 every week . The promotion will run for 13 weeks which translates to 416 beneficiaries. “In addition, 10 winners from each district will get a ZTE handset each week while another ten customers will also get K1000 worth of airtime weekly,” said Newa He added, “We are launching this promotion because we appreciate that during this time of the year, our customers have many financial commitments such as farming, Christmas as well as taking care of other b...

20Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, Zimbabwe News

Air quality deteriorates in Zimbabwe’s main cities

by Wallace Mawire A report produced by the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) on the proposed National Climate Change Response Strategy in Zimbabwe has revealed that there is increasing evidence of deteriorating air quality in the country's main cities. The IES, a department of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was contracted by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management to come up with a national climate change response strategy for Zimbabwe. The strategy report says that studies conducted by the Air Pollution Information Network for Africa show that carbon monoxide constituted 74% of Zimbabwe's total emissions using 2000 as the base year and was mostly from savanna and vegetation burning including forest fires. "The other pollutants such as nitrogen oxide c...

20Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

MITSUMI IT Distribution Africa concluded its GITEX 2012 debut on a high note

MITSUMI IT Distribution has concluded its GITEX debut successfully which run from October 14 – 18, 2012 at Dubai World Trade Centre. GITEX is the ICT business gateway to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. This year, for the very first time, MITSUMI has exhibited its world-class product portfolio from renowned global vendor partners HP, Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung, Microsoft, Western Digital, BenQ and Tripplite at the prestigious event. With GITEX having an “Africa in Focus” theme this year, our stand attracted serious business visitors from all over the region. Numerous delegations from Algeria, Kenya, Libya, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tunisia have visited MITSUMI stand and have shown interest. MITSUMI's participation at ...