Nile Basin Initiative to Bring Interconnected Power to the People

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info (Sugar Land, Texas)--Toward the end of 2011, civil society organizations belonging to the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) challenged development partners and international financial institutions to consider channeling increased support for the development of renewable energy in the region.

The Nile Basin Discourse (NBD) is continuing to lobby for greater capital injection into solar energy, wind and geothermal power, rather than concentrae on hydropower projects.

Wesley Chirchir, NBD's vice chairman for the sub-region, said that development partners were funding the multibillion-dollar hydropower and interconnection projects of the NBI countries, but that 60% of local communities could not be connected to the high-voltage grid.

"Overdependence on hydroelectric power may not produce any significant impact because it is strongly affected by changes in climate and environmental degradation," Chirchir said. "In order for all communities to benefit, let the implementing agencies and funders consider other means of energy that are conducive for the local people."

He also called on development partners and international financial institutions to include rural electrification projects on their major interconnection power lines as a means of taking in the interests of local communities.

NBI countries are now close to implementing the regional power trade program that will facilitate the development of an integrated regional power grid connection to all its member states. The secretariat is currently funding the construction of the $450 million regional Rusomo Falls hydropower project with power connections in Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi.

At the beginning of this month the NBI announced the selection of international consultants to perform data processing and modeling for a Basin Decision Support System (DSS) for the region's water resources planning and management program.

An $850,000 contract has gone to Aurecon Amei Limited, in association with Solaris Engineering and Construction, Beuster Clarke and Associates, Conningarth Economists and NEPID. All the consulting companies are South African- based, except for Solaris. The contract was won against one other competing bid.

The DSS includes a Nile Basin knowledge base with a communication and information management system; a Regional River Basin (RRB) planning model to evaluate development paths and identify joint investment projects; and a suite of analytical tools and the development of core national capabilities.

Member countries of the NBI are: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

For more information, see September 20, 2010, article - Egypt to Establish Grid Interconnection with Nile Basin Countries and August 23, 2011, article -- Eastern Africa Leads $3.6 Billion Boom in renewable Power.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.