wiredInUSA June 2020

Considering the renewables future

Fiber optic hook-up

Image courtesy of 2Africa Kenya and Tanzania are among 16 African countries set to benefit from 2Africa, a subsea 4G and 5G Internet project to link them with Europe and the Middle East. The 37,000km project will involve various telecommunications companies, including China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC. The cable, one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects, will be built by Alcatel Submarine Networks. African countries involved in the project are Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Egypt, Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. In Europe, the cable will link the UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal and France, while the Middle East will be served through Oman and Saudi Arabia. The 2Africa cable will implement a new technology, SDM1 from ASN, allowing deployment of up to 16 fiber-pairs instead of the eight fiber-pairs supported by older technologies, bringing much greater and more cost-effective capacity. The system is expected to go live in 2023 with a design capacity of up to 180Tb per second on key parts of the system; this is more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa.

Research from the consultancy group Wood Mackenzie suggests that up to 150GWof wind and solar projects across the Asia Pacific could be delayed or canceled over the next five years if the coronavirus- led recession extends beyond 2020. This will be equivalent to pushing back the Asia Pacific renewables construction pipeline by nearly two years. Wood Mackenzie research director Alex Whitworth said: “The extent of the coronavirus impact on Asia Pacific markets is key to the future growth of the renewables sector. Over the last five years the Asia Pacific region accounted for over three- quarters of global power demand growth, while leading the world in wind and solar capacity installations. “The coming months will be crucial to determine if the region is moving towards a rapid recovery or extended recession. Key indicators to monitor include power demand growth, … cost competition between renewables and fossil fuels, and government support including stimulus for renewables markets.”

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wiredInUSA - June 2020