It’s time for Africa to power up
Of the nearly 1.5 billion people living on this continent, how many of us know just how blessed Africa is with renewable energy resources? How many of us know that Africa has the potential to play a pivotal role in the global transition to a more sustainable energy future?
The fact is that this continent has abundant renewable energy potential. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Africa is home to 60 percent of the best solar resources globally, the sub-Saharan region alone has 1,300GW wind energy potential and the continent has the capacity to produce 5,000 megatonnes of hydrogen per year.
Investment in energy infrastructure
To realize and achieve its renewable energy potential, Africa needs to ensure that there is adequate investment and infrastructure development to support it. We have the necessary renewable resources but we need to harness this into usable power.
That requires building effective grid, transmission and distribution capabilities to support the development of solar plants and wind farms. Furthermore, to address the issue of the intermittency of those energy sources, robust energy storage facilities must be constructed so that renewable power can be supplied 24 hours a day.
The installation of the electrical grid needs to be prioritised to support the generation and distribution of renewable energy in Africa.
Infrastructure is not sufficient on its own. Favourable policy and regulatory frameworks that incentivise renewable energy development and position Africa as an attractive destination for investment are also vital.
Affordable financing is another factor critical to the success of renewable energy projects. African governments can help ease the way by forging partnerships with international financial institutions and exploring innovative financing mechanisms to mobilise capital for clean energy investments.
The World Bank and IFC are working with governments to produce solutions and more needs to be done to provide the guarantees and assessments that are required to help de-risk investments.
At Infinity Power, we count the African Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, not just as shareholders but as key partners in our development.
Consistency over energy supply and pricing
The benefits of developing Africa’s clean energy potential are many. Solar, wind, and green hydrogen can help countries to reduce their reliance on imports of other less sustainable fuel sources, particularly coal.
Tapping into renewable energy sources on the continent gives African countries a greater level of security and consistency over energy supply and pricing. Renewable energy is cost competitive, wind farms and solar plants are quicker to build, and they can also bring energy independence.
By utilising cross-border transmission networks and regional power markets, African nations can share renewable energy resources and develop interconnected energy systems. This cooperative approach maximizes efficiency, enhances regional energy security, and fosters the collective growth of the renewable energy sector across the continent.
Collective growth will help us get to the more than 570 million people on the continent who do not have access to electricity. Unleashing our renewable energy resources could bring light to so many lives.
Renewable energy will also provide major opportunities for job creation in manufacturing, installation, operation, and maintenance of the required energy infrastructure, benefiting the economy and local communities.
As the largest pure play operator and developer of renewable power in Africa, Infinity Power has wind and solar projects across Egypt, South Africa, and Senegal, providing clean reliable power to millions and mitigating three million tonnes of CO2 a year.
Potential for renewable energy
As a joint venture between Infinity in Egypt and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC, Masdar, the UAE’s flagship renewable energy company, our ambition is to have a presence in all 54 countries on the continent. We have plans to develop, install and operate 2GW of projects by 2025 and develop 10GW of capacity by 2030.
While the focus is primarily on the potential for renewable energy to transform Africa, it can also become a clean energy provider, using its abundance of energy sources to supply power to its neighbouring continent, Europe.
In May 2023, Infinity Power signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Greek energy concern, Copelouzos Group, to explore the possibility of supplying green energy to Greece via the Greece-Egypt electrical interconnection (GREGY).
Infinity Power Chairman Mohamed Ismail Mansour recently remarked: “What Africa has – and Europe does not – is land. You need this space for renewable energy projects and so we should be capitalising on this land availability to generate more to benefit local communities with energy access and to fill the gaps in Europe and elsewhere.”
Global energy transition
Renewable energy production will not only ensure that Africa can be self-sufficient in terms of power generation, but also provide a surplus that it can export for the continent’s economic benefit.
This is confirmation of the opportunity Africa has in the global energy transition. In a recent joint statement, the president of Kenya, William Ruto, and Masdar Chairman and COP 28 President-Designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber, recognized Africa’s potential to lead the energy transition “and deliver enormous benefits for the region and globally”.
The statement noted that Africa was “home to the current and next generation of climate leaders, entrepreneurs, business and civil society that will help unlock the solutions to transformative action. On a continent where almost half of the population still lacks electricity, clean energy provides an opportunity to supercharge economic growth and improve lives and livelihoods.”
Africa has the ability to renew itself. It’s time for Africa to fulfil its renewable energy potential, it’s time for Africa to power up.
The author, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, is the Chairman Infinity Power.
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Turbulence in China’s top ranks raises questions about Xi Jinping’s rule
By Nectar Gan, CNN
Hong KongCNN —
At the onset of his unprecedented third term, Xi Jinping stacked China’s top ranks with a slate of loyalists who he presumably hoped would smooth the paths to achieve his grand vision for China.
Less than a year on, however, a storm of turbulence is roiling Xi’s hand-picked ruling elite, raising questions about his judgment and dampening international confidence in his governance – at a time when China is facing major economic troubles at home and increased competition with the United States on the world stage.
In just a matter of months, two senior members of China’s cabinet who served as the country’s key interlocutors with the world have gone missing. Defense Minister Li Shangfu has not been seen in public for three weeks, sparking speculation he is under investigation. Weeks earlier, Foreign Minister Qin Gang was dramatically ousted after vanishing from public view for a month.
Their sudden absence comes as Xi is seeking to eliminate any perceived threats and vulnerabilities in a drive to bolster national security, amid rising tensions with the West.
Both Li and Qin serve among China’s five state councillors, a senior position in the cabinet that outranks a regular minister. Li also sits on the Central Military Commission, a powerful body headed by Xi that commands the armed forces.
Meanwhile, the surprise removal of two top generals has rocked the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, an elite unit set up by Xi to modernize China’s conventional and nuclear missile capabilities, sparking concerns of a broader purge in the military.
The Chinese government, which has become even more opaque under Xi, offered little in the way of a public explanation for the series of personnel shake-ups, nor did it show any interest in clearing up the inevitable speculation that has run rampant since.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Qin was found by a Communist Party investigation to have been engaged in an extramarital affair while serving as China’s envoy to Washington, citing people familiar with the matter. China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
The lack of transparency over the fate of two high-profile ministers has dealt a blow to the international image of Beijing, which has touted its political model as more stable and efficient than Western democracies.
Experts say the growing uncertainty among China’s ruling elite has exposed the vulnerabilities of its one-party system – which have only been amplified by Xi’s concentration of personal power during what is now his third term.
“What’s going on in China really represents and has reflected an absolutely tremendous political risk emanating from Beijing,” said Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore.
“The political risk is both among Xi Jinping and his relationship with his handpicked subordinates, but also the lack of established rules and norms that govern behaviors in the system.”
As defense minister, a largely ceremonial role in the Chinese system, Li does not command combat forces. But he is an important face of China’s military diplomacy to the outside world, said James Char, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“If Li Shangfu is really in trouble, Beijing will be perceived in a very negative way to have two state councillors removed so soon in Xi Jinping’s third term,” he said.
Since being promoted to the post in March, Li has traveled twice to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, visited Belarus’ president in Minsk, and shook hands with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a security conference in Singapore.
In recent weeks, however, Li has reportedly missed a series of diplomatic engagements, including an annual meeting on border defense with Vietnamese officials and a meeting with Singapore’s Navy Chief in Beijing.
But experts noted there is one silver-lining in Li’s mysterious absence when it comes to efforts to stabilize US-China relations.
Li was sanctioned by the US in 2018 over China’s purchase of Russian weapons, and Beijing has repeatedly suggested that the US won’t get a meeting with Li unless the sanctions were revoked.
If Li was removed as defense minister, it could potentially open a window for the resumption of high-level military talks between the two superpowers.
‘Xi could not escape the blame’
The potential downfall of Xi’s own loyalists would reflect badly on the top leader, who has concentrated power and decision-making into his own hands to a level unseen in China in recent decades, analysts say.
“Two state councillors single-handedly promoted by Xi had run into troubles within six months, no matter how hard the authorities try to defend it, Xi could not escape the blame,” said Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the US.
“There will be questions within the party over what kind of people he has placed in important positions.”
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Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, even compared Xi’s cabinet line-up to Agatha Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None.”
“Who’s going to win this unemployment race? China’s youth or Xi’s cabinet?” the ambassador wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
China is already battling a series of economic woes – from record youth unemployment and mounting local government debt to a spiraling property crisis. The growing uncertainty in Xi’s ruling circle risks fueling a crisis of confidence in the world’s second largest economy, analysts noted.
“Xi’s latest high-level purge underscores his belief that ideological cohesion, not economic performance or perceived military prowess, are the cornerstones of a nation’s strength, a lesson he drew from the Soviet Union’s collapse,” said Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington DC.
“Li’s removal may not seriously impinge on China’s state relations, but it will almost certainly reinforce the international business community’s growing concerns regarding party overreach and dwindling transparency in China.”
Fighting corruption
Military leader Li, 65, cut his teeth at one of China’s main satellite-launch sites in the southwestern province of Sichuan, rising through the ranks to become its director.
After three decades at the launch center, he was promoted to work in the PLA’s headquarters on armaments in 2013, soon after Xi rose to power. t
Li is believed to be a protege of General Zhang Youxia, Xi’s childhood friend and closest ally in the military. In a sign of his prominence, Zhang was promoted to first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) during the leadership reshuffle last October despite having well passed the unofficial retirement age.
From 2017 to 2022, Li was in charge of China’s weapon procurement as the head of the CMC’s Equipment Development Department, a position Zhang previously held.
In July, days before the two top generals at Rocket Force were abruptly removed, the Equipment Development Department announced a fresh crackdown on corrupt procurement practices, calling for tips on questionable activities dating back to 2017 – coinciding with the time Li took the helm of the department.
Since coming to power, Xi has wielded an unrelenting anti-corruption campaign, which ensnared hundreds of senior officials and generals and millions more lower-level cadres.
“If you look back over 10 years, Xi Jinping is still battling corruption. He’s still battling disloyalty. He’s still expressing his concerns about the loyalty of the army towards the party,” said Thompson, the researcher at the National University of Singapore.
“This really reveals some fundamental problems in the nature of governance in Beijing. The lack of checks and balances, the over-reliance on top down party control does nothing to remove the incentives that underpin the behaviors that they’re constantly trying to root out.”
‘Such purges will keep happening’
Even as he has already amassed more power than any other Chinese leader in recent decades, Xi is still doubling down on a campaign to consolidate his authority in the party and the military.
Last week, as speculation mounted over the whereabouts of the defense minister, Xi called for unity and stability within the military during an inspection in China’s northeast.
“The lack of political trust between individuals in the system is an underlying driver of of this campaign,” Thompson said.
Xi is not the only Chinese leader who has turned against his own circle after amassing unrivaled personal power. Chairman Mao Zedong, Communist China’s founding father and the most powerful leader before Xi, purged many of his once trusted allies in the Cultural Revolution.
Char, the expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, warned the political shake-ups does not suggest Xi is losing his grip on power.
“The very fact that he can remove anyone he wants…says a lot about the extent of control Xi has achieved,” Char said.
But he noted the disappearance of Li and Qin is a symptom of the one-party centralized rule in China.
“Until Xi Jinping has the gumption to reform the entire political system…I’m very sure this kind of purges will just keep happening.”
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Japan's trade deficit falls to ¥930.5 billion as exports to China slump
Japan posted a trade deficit of ¥930.48 billion ($6.3 billion) in August after the imposition of trade restrictions by China led to the biggest drop in food exports to the Asian neighbor in about 12 years, Finance Ministry data showed Wednesday.
It was the second straight month of red ink for Japan as exports fell again in August, down 0.8% from a year earlier at ¥7.99 trillion, despite robust auto shipments to the United States. Imports fell 17.8% to ¥8.92 trillion, a year after energy imports surged.
The latest data came amid concern about slowing overseas demand for Japanese products, particularly from major trading partner China. Total exports continued to decline in August, a month after they dropped for the first time in over two years.
China imposed an import ban on Japanese seafood in late August, after the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began releasing treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Food exports to China tumbled 41.2% from a year earlier to ¥14.19 billion, the sharpest drop since October 2011 in the aftermath of the crisis at the nuclear plant triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March of that year.
The figure includes seafood but the Finance Ministry did not release further breakdowns of the data. China's customs data showed its seafood imports from Japan dived 67.6% in August from a year earlier.
Japan's overall exports to China dropped 11.0% to ¥1.44 trillion while imports decreased 12.1% to ¥1.93 trillion, leading to a ¥493.09 billion trade deficit.
Increased exports, particularly of cars to the U.S., had helped the Japanese economy to report strong growth despite concern that monetary tightening in other major economies would hurt the global economy.
"While overall exports are still at high levels, the outlook for China is a concern," said Shinichiro Kobayashi, a senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.
"China-bound shipments were weak because of sluggish demand for semiconductor-related equipment and a drop in farm products for political reasons. This comes as auto exports to the United States and Europe remain robust," he added.
Japan has urged China to take action based on scientific data, saying that while the treated water includes tritium, its concentration is below global safety limits.
Wednesday's data painted a changing trade picture for Japan as the surge in import costs caused by higher energy prices and a weak yen has abated and export growth has begun to lose momentum.
Japan's trade surplus with the U.S. expanded 38.2% to ¥650.60 billion. Exports grew 5.1% to ¥1.62 trillion, a record for August, while imports fell 9.5% to ¥967.39 billion.
The country was in the red for the 13th straight month with the European Union, logging a trade deficit of ¥132.58 billion. Imports rose 11% to ¥946 billion while exports increased 12.7% to ¥813.42 billion.
Japan returned to the black with a trade surplus of ¥1.56 billion with the rest of Asia, including China.
Kobayashi expects Japan to remain in the red, partly due to higher energy prices and the yen's weakening.
"It's hard to expect export growth to accelerate from now," he said, adding that strength in demand for cars, semiconductors and China-bound machinery will be key.
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Japan’s dwindling LNG inventories could prompt new purchases
Japan’s liquefied natural gas inventories have dropped to the lowest level in over a year-and-a-half and could push the nation’s utilities to buy more fuel ahead of winter.
Storage held by Japan’s power suppliers fell to 1.62 million tons as of Sept. 17, according to data compiled by the trade ministry. That’s the least since March 2022.
The country’s utilities have already started to stock up on gas ahead of winter with some LNG purchases from the spot market over the last few weeks. Any more prolonged effort to buy additional cargoes would help to tighten the global market and likely send prices higher.
Lingering hot weather has helped drain Japan’s stores of natural gas. The country’s Meteorological Agency forecasts temperatures to be warmer-than-normal across most areas through Oct. 15.
Spot power prices in the nation on Wednesday rose to the highest since February as utilities limit some electricity sales to help conserve gas supplies. Electricity sales volumes dipped 15% on Tuesday from a day earlier, falling well below demand, according to data from the Japan Electric Power Exchange.
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