Power Archives - Page 3 of 4 - AfricaBusiness.com

7Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Abengoa Begins Construction on Two CSP Plants Awarded by the South Africa Department of Energy

- Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One will be the first concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in South Africa and will use advanced technology specifically developed for the country's needs - Both plants will be able to store energy and generate power after sunset SEVILLE, Spain, Nov., 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Abengoa, the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainable development in the energy and environment sectors, announced today that it has begun construction on the 50 MW solar power tower Khi Solar One and the 100 MW parabolic trough plant KaXu Solar One in South Africa. The concentrating solar power (CSP) plants were two of the 28 renewable energy projects announced late 2011 by the South Africa Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE ...

6Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, South Africa News

Serving up a POWER-GEN-sized slice of colossal Kusile

As part of the inaugural POWER-GEN Africa, taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 6-8 November, an intrepid group of delegates had a unique opportunity to visit Kusile, which once operational will be the fourth largest coal-fired power installation in the world. By its scheduled 2018 completion date the station, located in Mpumalanga province, will have a total capacity of 4800 MW. The first of its six 800 MW units is due to commence operations in 2014. Under development by South African state-owned utility Eskom, Kusile is the country’s most technologically advanced coal plant and will be the first to feature flue gas desulphurisation (FGD), a key environmental objective for Eskom. A base-load facility, Kusile forms part of Eskom’s plan to increase...

6Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy, Kenya News

Joju Solar aid electrification of hospital in Kenya

Joju Solar have assisted in the installation of a 2.2 kW off grid solar PV system on a remote village clinic in Kenya, in association with the Sindicatum Climate Change Foundation The project has enabled the remote clinic, which is off the electricity grid, to be fitted with a solar/battery system to supply power to the clinic for the first time. The generated power is used to run energy efficient lighting and ceiling fans in the wards. And importantly, the project also provides a super insulated fridge for the storage of vaccines and medicines. The project has generated considerable interest locally, in particular from the Ministry of Health who met with Hope for Konya and other local partners to discuss the possibility of placing doctors permanently at the clinic instead of...

6Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Nigeria News, South Africa News

Having cracked the feature phone challenge, 2go heads for smartphones

Mobile social network 2go is extending its successful feature phone app to smartphones, while growing its team of software developers and support staff. 2go currently has over 10 million active users who send more than 6 billion messages a month, mostly on lower-end feature phones in Nigeria and South Africa. “Feature phones have been an incredibly successful platform for us and will continue to be so for the next few years at least,” says Alan Wolff, who founded 2go with fellow student Ashley Peter while still at university. “Research firms such as Informa indicate that by 2015 there will still be 5.6 feature phones in the African market for every one smartphone. But now is the right time to start extending to iOS, Blackberry and Android platforms as well.” The secret to 2go...

5Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Kenya News

Deforestation Costing Kenyan Economy Millions of Dollars Each Year and Increasing Water Shortage Risk, UNEP and Kenya Forest Service Report Finds / Services from Kenya’s Water Towers Underpin Many Sectors of Economy

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 5, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Deforestation deprived Kenya’s economy of 5.8 billion shillings ($US 68 million) in 2010 and 6.6 billion shillings in 2009, far outstripping the roughly 1.3 billion shillings injected from forestry and logging each year, according to a joint Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report. The ongoing work of the KFS, together with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and international partners, says that the contribution of forests is undervalued by 2.5 per cent, putting the estimate of its annual contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at around 3.6 per cent. Hon. Dr. Noah Wekesa, Kenya’s Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, said the report – entitled ‘The ...

5Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Zimbabwe News

Zimbabwe develops e-health strategies

by Wallace Mawire ln a bid to move with global developments Zimbabwe has developed ehealth strategies to enhance service delivery and increase competitiveness in the health sector. Globally all sectors are embracing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Health care is no exception.ICTs can transform how health care is delivered and how health systems are run. The use of ICTs in health care service delivery is termed ehealth. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines ehealth as the combined use of electronic communication and information technology in the health sector. "E-health is the means of ensuring that the right health information is provided to the right person at the right place and time in a secure,electronic form for the purpose of optimizing the qual...

3Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Rwanda News

Africa: Regional integration can boost FDI, experts at AEC say

KIGALI, Rwanda, November, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Experts at the ongoing African Economic Conference in Kigali today agreed that Africa would need to strengthen regional integration in order to boost increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the continent, because it creates larger domestic markets and stimulates trade, two elements that can attract FDI. “At a time when China, India, Brazil and other large emerging markets are taking on such a prominence in the global economy, we must surely focus the minds of African policymakers, particularly from smaller, landlocked countries, on the importance of pushing forward the regional integration agenda”, said Andrew Mold, a senior Economic Affairs Officer of ECA. Mold said that attracting FDI in Africa c...

3Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, Green Energy

Solar Engineering & Manufacturing Association holds outstanding meeting on Supply and Demand Forecasts for Solar

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov., 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Solar Engineering & Manufacturing Association (SEMA) held an informative solar forecast meeting hosted by Stion Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high efficiency thin film solar panels on October 30. The keynote was given by Paula Mints of SPV Market Research on the state of the North American Photovoltaic Industry. While the manufacturing infrastructure has been faced with significant challenges and price erosion, installation of photovoltaic generation capacity in North America continues to grow with CAGR of over 60% from 2006 – 2011. 2011 saw an increase of 781Mw of installed photovoltaic power generation. Matt Holzmann, president of SEMA stated "With the many challenges facing us, this information was invaluable ...

3Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Science

A*STAR’s Data Storage Institute Launches Next Generation 5mm Hybrid Hard Disk Drive

Singapore, Singapore, November 03, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The “A-Drive,” one of the world’s thinnest 5mm hybrid hard drive in a 2.5’’ form factor, was officially launched by Mr. S. Iswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry, to commemorate the Data Storage Institute’s (DSI) 20 years of R&D in the area of data storage capabilities. The “A-Drive” represents the next generation of storage innovation providing capacities of up to 1 TB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 32 GB Solid State Drive (SSD). This potentially allows the “A-Drive” to store over 250,000 songs in its 5mm body. The “A-Drive” also addresses limitations of the popular, yet expensive, flash-based SSD, as well as the conventional HDD for the consumer and ...

31Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News

Bunna International Bank Partners With Finacle From Infosys for Banking Transformation

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia and BANGALORE, India, November 1, 2012/PRNewswire-FirstCall via African Press Organization (APO)/ — New Core Banking Solution to Improve Customer Service and Operational Efficiency Bunna International Bank, a leading player in the Ethiopian market, today announced the selection of Finacle[TM] core banking solution [http://www.infosys.com/finacle ] from Infosys for its transformation journey. Finacle will enable the bank to integrate its front and back office operations and deploy a state-of-the-art loan origination system. This will include automating the credit check and loan approval processes for risk-free and efficient loan disbursals. This transformation will help Bunna improve the overall banking experience for its customers. Finacle will also comp...