A lot has changed since November 2006. That’s when REEEPThe Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) is a non-profit, specialist change agent aiming to catalyse the market for renewable energy and energy efficiency, with a primary focus on emerging markets and developing countries. helped finance a wind farmA group of wind turbines interconnected to a common power provider system through a system of transformers, distribution lines, and (usually) one substation. Operation, control, and maintenance functions are often centralized through a network of computerized monitoring systems, supplemented by ... developed by South African windWind occurs due to different temperature levels in the atmosphere (troposphere) which are heated up by the sun. A typical example are the trade winds at the equator where the sun is most powerful.. developer, Genesis Eco-EnergyThe ability to perform work, mainly kinetic, potential, thermal energy, but also in forms of gravitational, sound, elastic and electromagnetic energy. (Pty) Ltd., through the sale of carbon creditsCarbon credits provide a way to reduce greenhouse effect emissions on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. to the UK government. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) purchased the credits generated by the Jeffreys Bay 10MW wind farm to offset their 2004 air travel emissionsEmissions of greenhouse gases, greenhouse gas precursors, and aerosols associated with human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land-use changes, livestock, fertilisation, etc. (IPCC). Two years later the projects are 12 to 30 times bigger and now you have the French and Spanish governments providing assistance for African wind projects.

On October 9th, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation announced construction of a 120MW wind farm to help fill the gap of hydrological risks that the country faces due to droughts. The project will be based in Ashegoda and French turbineA turbine transforms kinetic energy into mechanical energy and provides the generator with rotation. manufacturer Vergnet will be the developer together with assistance from the French government. Once built it would be the largest wind farm in Ethiopia.

Last month, Spanish wind turbineA wind turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from the flow of wind. The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft with blades attached. Wind energy acts on the blades, or the blades react to wind, so that they rotate and impart energy to the rotor. ... manufacturer Gamesa announced that they would supply 91 wind turbinesA wind turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from the flow of wind. The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft with blades attached. Wind energy acts on the blades, or the blades react to wind, so that they rotate and impart energy to the rotor. ..., worth €200 million, to Tunisia’s Société Tunisienne de L’Electricité et du Gaz (Steg), for what would become the North African country’s largest wind powerWind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form, such as electricity, using wind turbines. By 2010, a single wind turbine can produce several MW of electric power. facility. The project will be built with financing from the Spanish Development Aid Fund (Fondo Español de Ayuda al Desarrollo) and 120 new direct local jobs are expected to be created. The project is based in the Bizerte region.

These two recent developments in the African wind sector add to June’s announcement by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) and France’s Theolia regarding their strategic partnership to develop renewable energyRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil. in Morocco. The two companies plan to submit a joint bid to build and operate a 300MW wind farm in Tarfaya, Morocco.

Theolia, through its Moroccan subsidiary Compagnie Eolienne du Détroit (CED), already operates Morocco’s largest existing wind farm, the 200MW Abdelkhalek Torres project near the northern city of Tetouanin.

The Tarfaya wind project on which Taqa and Theolia are bidding is a project supported by the Moroccan government-owned l’Office Nationale d’Electricité (ONE). ONE solicited private-sector bids in order to attract investment in clean energy. Morocco’s government has recently shown a strong desire to exploit the country’s wind power potentialWind power potentials describe the maximum amount of installed capacity that makes sense in any area regarding the occurrence of wind, regardless of other considerations such as landscape, financial profits..., in order to reduce its dependence on increasingly costly natural gas imports for incremental powerUseful energy can be mechanical energy, for example powering a fan. generation.

In order to attract foreign investment, ONE is offering a 20-year power purchase agreement under which ONE would buy the project’s entire electricityA form of energy having magnetic, radiant and chemical effects. Electric current is created by a flow of electrons. output.

These developments augment Tanzania’s announcement last year regarding the development of the country’s first wind farm which is currently under construction. The 50MW project will generate 10% of Tanzania’s current power needs. The company behind the $113m project in Njiapanda is Wind East Africa.