PowerChina focuses on renewables for growth in Africa

A company executive revealed that China's Power Construction Corp. (PowerChina), a state-owned corporation, is targeting significant growth in Africa by focusing on renewable projects as part its overseas expansion strategy.

Chinese lending to African countries has dropped sharply since a peak in 2016 of around $28 billion per year, as Beijing becomes more cautious about the debt risk. However, state-backed companies like PowerChina continue to push forward with new projects.

PowerChina executive Chen Guanfu stated that Africa was its second home at a Bloomberg event held on Tuesday. He added that the company aimed to set up operations in nearly every African market within 5 years.

Chen stated that Africa represents about 30% of PowerChina’s overseas revenues, and the figure is expected to increase to 40-45% in 2030. The company believes that the increase in growth will be driven by an increased development of hydropower dams, gas-fired stations and clean-energy plants.

PowerChina's renewable energy projects in South Africa are worth approximately $3.5 billion. These include solar photovoltaic systems and the Redstone concentrator solar power project. The company delivered previous projects, such as Ethiopia's Adama Wind Farm.

Chen praised the Oya hybrid project for renewable energy in South Africa as a pioneering initiative to stabilize power from intermittent sources. The project was developed in collaboration with South Africa's Eskom and other partners.

Chen said that the project was a model for PowerChina’s 100+ overseas markets, not just Africa. (Reporting Colleen Goko, Nqobile Dudla and David Goodman).

(source: Reuters)