ENGIE & Fenix to ensure affordable power across Africa

Global utility company ENGIE and offgrid energy leader Fenix International have agreed to ensure affordable power to every part of Africa. ENGIE and Fenix have ambitious targets to reach millions of households across Africa and this partnership will accelerate and expand Fenix’s ability to scale off -grid energy and financial services. Fenix will gain access to ENGIE’s supply chain, expertise, long-term capital investments and talent across the energy value chain. Aligned with ENGIE’s core values, the Fenix team and mission will remain unchanged and at the heart of the company. Fenix headquarters and key offices are anchored in Africa, close to their customers and operations, so that Fenix can continue its pursuit of an exceptional customer experience.
Bruno Bensasson, CEO of ENGIE Africa, said: “Closing this acquisition gives us the goahead to accelerate access to energy through Fenix’s strong solar home system model. Until now, availability of capital has been a major hurdle in the solar home system business, a constraint that we are now helping to remove. “We believe this is a major step along the path to universal energy access. The dramatically falling price of solar panels and batteries, combined with the inclusive “pay-as-you-go” fi nancing platform created by Fenix, make solar home systems a key part of the energy mix for Africa’s future in combination with grid extension and micro-grids.”
Lyndsay Handler, CEO of Fenix International, said, “It’s unacceptable that over 600 million people across Africa lack access to energy. By joining forces with ENGIE, we aim to bring affordable energy and other life-changing products to millions of people living off -grid. Realizing this ambitious vision will require significant commercial investment and innovation in product, last-mile distribution, inclusive financing and customer experience. With this agreement, ENGIE will provide the support, expertise, and opportunities the Fenix team needs to innovate in these areas and rapidly scale the business.”
India: Gas price hike to jack up power cost by 3%
The latest 6 per cent hike in domestic natural gas price in India will jack up cost of power generation by Rs 3 per unit apart from making Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) costlier by 50-55 paise per kilogramme and 35-40 paise per Standard Cubic Meter (scm). “From the consumers’ perspective, the increase in domestic gas prices is negative. The upward revision in the domestic gas price would increase the cost of domestic gas-based power generation by about 3%,” the ratings agency said in a statement.
“As regards the impact on the city gas distribution (CGD) sector, the CGD players could increase CNG price and PNG (domestic) prices by Rs 0.50-0.55 per Kg and Rs 0.35-0.40 per scm respectively,” said Prashant Vasisht, Vice President and CoHead, Corporate Ratings at ICRA. The oil ministry had on Wednesday increased the domestic natural gas price for six months starting April 2018 to $3.06 per million British thermal units (MMBTU), the highest in two years and a 6 per cent increase over $2.89 per MMBTU on Gross Calorific Value (GCV) basis during OctoberMarch 2017 based on the New Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014.
The formula pegs the price to the weighted average of four global benchmarks including US-based Henry Hub, Canadabased Alberta gas, UK-based NBP and Russian gas prices registered in the past one year with one quarter lag. ICRA also said that the hike may have come as a relief for upstream gas producers but the new notified price for gas is still not lucrative enough for upstream companies to take up natural gas development activities. “The gas price for H1 FY2019, though higher than H2 FY2018, continues to remain low at an absolute level. Accordingly, gas production remains either a break even or a loss-making proposition for most fields for the upstream producers notwithstanding some decline in oil field services or equipment cost,” ICRA’s Senior Vice-President K Ravichandran said. “Additionally, the appreciation of Indian Rupee against the Dollar in FY2018 also dampens the realisations of the gas producers,” he added. Another expert, Deepak Mahurkar, Partner and Leader, Oil & Gas Industry Practice at consultancy firm PwC said the break-even price for gas producers varies from field to field. “The revision will increase the profitability of some fields but it is still lower than the price as suggested by the companies in their Field Development Plans to initiate production in Eastern Off shore region,” he explained in response to a query on whether the increase in natural gas prices will provide substantial relief to oil and gas companies said. The oil ministry also raised the gas price ceiling for output from deepwater, Ultra deepwater and High Pressure-High Temperature areas to $6.78 per MMBTU, an increase of 7.6 per cent over $6.30 per MMBTU during October-March 2017. While the prices from deep-water and diffi cult areas has been increased, the prices are still not lucrative enough to stimulate healthy development activities in the segment, Ravichandran said.