Energy

Sweden wants corporates to start dating Mozambique

africasc_admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:51:22 -0600

Who would think, 20 years ago, that a Swedish export promotion office would bother about Mozambique, one of the worlds poorest countries?

At the time the division between Swedish aid officials and Swedish exporters was notoriously sharp. A sort of Cold War situation right in the midst of the Swedish Government. A reflexion of the division of interest among Swedes - many would argue at the expense of what was good for Mozambique.

But, now, in a fast changing world, with old school aid being loosened up and mixed up with business interests, it is finally happening. A trade seminar on Mozambique is being held by the Swedish Trade Council in South Africa to promote business in one of Africa's fastest, albeit from a very low level, growing economies.

"In 2010, Mozambique outperformed its neighbors as the economy grew by 8,1%. Further high growth and heavy inflow of foreign aid and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) is expected to foster infrastructure development and create opportunities for Swedish suppliers of goods and services. Mining and Agriculture are heavily expanding sectors that drive the economy and promote major investments also in the Energy, ICT and Transport sectors", the Swedish Trade Council, led by Håkan Bengtsson, writes in its invitational online brochure.

On the country to country level figures are also rosy, Swedish trade rose by 36 % during the first six months of 2011, but yet again, it is all from a very low level: Swedish Export in 2010 stood at 57 Mkr which is 0.01 % of Sweden's total export.

So which trade strategist in his or her right mind would bother about that kind of minnow? Waste of time?

The Swedish Trade Council doesn't think so, partially as it has promotion money from the Swedish Development Agency Sida to build a partnership with Mozambique. And as a good consultancy, Swedish trade councils are dependent on external consultancy incomes, it does what it is paid for.

If Swedish business will be interested remains to be seen. Former Swedish Ambassador's to Mozambique and the country's Government have always had a bit of an uphill struggle to get Swedish companies to Mozambique.

Its understandable that those who are selling consumer- and industrial goods haven't been overexcited. Mozambique's economy is indeed miniscule compared with its big brother South Africa. And it is fraught with corruption and byzantine commercial law. Buying property in Mozambique is to this day a no no. If yo don't want to get involved in years of legal wrangling that finally only will get you a a 99-year leasehold at the best. On top of that Swedish export companies are quite well updated on Mozambique through their regional offices in South Africa.

However what has been evident and well known among Swedes who have operated in Mozambique is that the country is bursting with fabulous mostly unexploited wealth - it is all well recorded and has been know way back to the Sixties when a large amount of feasibility studies were done.

While some Swedish companies, in particular ABB since it built Cahora Bassa in the Sixties, have kept its eyes wide open most have not bothered to go there. A civil war - fueled by apartheid South Africa - that raged up until the early Nineties, natural- and man made disasters leading to desperate poverty, was just not a very attractive mix for exporters.

But the situation has changed quite dramatically. Mozambique has picked up and is reestablishing itself. Infrastructure is being repaired. Regional trade- and investment from South Africa has given the country a new boost. And on top of that, most importantly, emerging economies in the South - China, India, Brazil - are showing a very active interest in Mozambique.

Some would say the comparative advantage Sweden had when it financed a large chunk of Mozambique's development budget has been lost. Sweden could have cherry picked among Mozambique's vast natural assets such as coal, gas, hydropower, agriculture and water resources, has been blown.

Other donors have been more pro-active. Britain even under Thatcher was a big donor to Mozambique. And some British companies, such as British Sugar, have benefitted and invested in vast sugar plantations.

Others would say 'its never too late'. And in today's situation Mocambiques growing economy is more suitable for advanced Swedish products and services - Swedish export is not very well tuned to deal with exploitation of natural resources.

A new cosy feeling for Mozambique is evident. You can't just sit back and do nothing as South-South trade is growing by leaps and bounds. So in that sense Mozambique has finally arrived. It is no longer seen as a hopeless aid basket case.

For old Swedish aid hands. all those thousands of Swedes who have worked in Mozambique over the past 30 years this should be good news. And Swedish business could make good use of them.

The Sweden-Mozambique trade seminar, moderated by Swedish Ambasador Ulla Andren and trade commissioner Håkan Bengtsson, is held on 1 December in Johannesburg. From the Mozambican side a number of representatives of 'key' ministries - energy, Infrastructure, agriculture and mining - are presenting their case.

(More info from Olov.hemstrom@swedisthrade.se and and karin.bolin@foreign.ministry.se )

ABB wins $23 million hydropower contract from Eskom

africasc_admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 23:36:07 -0500

Swedish Vattenfall in controversy over mine workers health in Namibia

africasc_admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:10:47 -0500

Swedish mainly state owned energy company Vattenfall's import of uranium from Namibia has shown the difficulty of being a nation of good-doers at all levels. The company is blamed for not worrying enough for Namibian mine workers health, but passes on some of the responsibility to the Swedish Governments recently implemented "partner cooperation" policy which recommends increased trade with Namibia.

In this case a report by a Namibian think tank, stating that Namibian workers are exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation which runs against a newly implemented Swedish partner co-operation policy pointing out Namibia as a favoured trading nation.

Swedish Vattenfall states in its defense of the company's purchase of uranium from Namibia that it fulfills all environmental, workplace and legal requirements after criticism in a report that Namibian mine workers are not adequately protected.

The company's head of environment, Agneta Rising, states that pictures broadcasted on a Swedish news channel, following a report on labour conditions at the Rössing mine, were "strong" but that Vattenfall stands by its decision to purchase from Namibia, which is one of four supplier of uranium to Vattenfall operated nuclear power plants. The other supplier countries are Canada, Australia and Russia.

Ms Rising states hat controls are very tight before any contras are entered into, including that the Vattenfall gets full insight into the suppliers operations.

"Radiation levels at the Rössing mine are on par with the natural background radiation levers. At these levers there is no correlation between radiation and health concerns", states Agneta Rising.

Vattenfall's view is contradicted by a report by the Labour Resource and Research Institute in Namibia which states that workers in the uranium mines run the risk of being exposed to radiation, but when they get sick they have great difficulty to prove that there is a correlation and therefore they don't get paid compensation.

The report, by the institutes head Hilma Shindondola-Mote, also states that workers are generally badly informed about the health risks they run.

As the nuclear power is on the rise, due to carbon emission related global warming the nuclear energy industry will find itself becoming ever more scrutinized not the least by think tanks and the media.

Vattenfall states it doesn't takes political decisions, but relies on the Swedish Foreign office for guidance. And the Swedish Governments officially adopted line is to encourage trade with the South West African desert nation through its freshly adopted policy of so called partnership cooperation - a policy that replaces development co-operation in countries that are too rich to benefit from financial assistance.

With some 20 percent of Vattenfall's uranium needs supplied by Namibia, uranium is the South West African desert Nations major export to Sweden by far.

ABB's new order in DR Congo lights up the continent

africasc_admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:46:54 -0600

ABB's signing of a $107million with SNEL (Société Nationale d’Électricité), the national power company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the clearest signal since democracy was restored, that at least stretch between the Katanga province up to the Inga power station is getting back to some level of stability - at least that it is stable enough for ABB to take on the project.

The refurbishment of what is one of the longest electricity transmission systems in the world also means that a big step will be taken in linking up Sub-Sahara's powerlines in a joint grid.

The 1,700 kilometer system was in fact built by ABB in 1982 and was back then the world’s longest transmission line.

The company was never payed by then Zairean government led by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko but ABB (then Asea) had wisely enough an export guarantee in place (meaning that Swedish tax payers in the end had to pick up part of the bill.)

In other words history has caught up with ABB.

Alfa Laval offers key to unlock Namibia's uranium mining

africasc_admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:54:48 -0500

Swedish industrial technology company Alfa Laval believes it has a clear cut case on how to contribute to lower emissions by helping Namibia to step up its uranium production for nuclear power use dramatically.

The Alfa Laval process would, states the company together with the Namibian company (project owner), will contribute in solving the problem with potable water in Namibia and generate necessary energy in the process.

The company could invest € 25-30 million in the uranium project in Namibia if the client’s own investment plans are cleared.

That way uranium mining in Namibia’s desert areas would become possible and profitable. In particular during times of high uranium prices.

It is more than just a nice idea. A potential client is carrying out a feasibility study on two mining sites in Namibia and a successful outcome would open up for financing.

Alfa Laval presented its case, a combined energy recovery and sea water desalination process, during a Swedish Trade Delegation visit to Namibia earlier this month.

The overall shortage of water is, together with energy, the main obstacle to overcome before Namibia’s uranium production can move up a gear.

Namibia's uranium potential, states an industry sources, could increase the country’s GDP by as much as 20-30 percent.

Namibia in 2007 produced close to 3000 tonnes of uranium, or around 8 percent of the world output. The country could up a gear or two if technology issues could be solved.

The export income would also make the countries own nuclear power ambitions a reality. Namibia presently imports most of its energy from South Africa’s largely coal based power plants.

The way the Alfa Laval desalination process works is that heat exchangers will transform steam from sea or brackish water into pure distilled water. While there are other competitive technologies, Alfa Laval’s titanium plate based technology has shown to be less costly when compared with RO technology in areas where waste heat is available, the company points out that operating and maintenance costs are lower and that it therefore is a cost-effective solution.

Another advantage states an Alfa Laval official, is that the technology is proven and works. The company has delivered desalinization plants to Brazil, Saudi-Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Swedish summit on sustainable cities will find fertile ground in South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:07:31 -0500

The Swedish Government sponsored summit in Midrand this week on sustainable cities, where both the Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade Minister Ewa Björling enrolled to drum up support for Swedish export opportunities, was well timed.

Among participating, and hopeful, Swedish companies were many of the largest multinationals, like Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Scania, Saab and Volvo, and others that already have subsidiaries or a foot in the door in South Africa such as ITT, Gunnebo and Kapsch TrafficCom.

On the executive level Sweden and South Africa have drifted apart over the past ten years. South Africa has moved up the ladder internationally and has become a buddy and playmate to much bigger and more influential friends like Brazil, India and China. They all want to have South Africa as a friend rather than a foe in their quest for Africa's raw material and markets. Sweden, on the other hand, have stayed on the sideline, ambivalent over what to do and were to go as Government links on leadership became more strained - not the least due to Mbeki's policy on aids and passive handling of Robert Mugabe.

With the Jacob Zuma administration in control in Pretoria, Sweden has a chance to tighten the relationship again. And the Swedish center-right Government seems to be keen to grasp that opportunity.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma stated after a meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister, that he welcomed close co-operation with Sweden on the climate change front. The two countries, Zuma said, were tied together historically and needed to stand together during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in November.

"We will have to. The deal in Copenhagen will need to balance climate and development, past and future, mitigation and adaptation, action by developed and developing countries, and a shared vision on reducing emissions, with means of implementation", said President Zuma.

South Africa, as the BRIC countries, maintains that most of the global climate mess is caused by OECD’s advanced economies. They must clean up in their own backyard and allow development nations to have some leeway.

In between the lines it seems like Zuma had an unspoken message to Mr. Reinfeldt: you support us in Copenhagen and we are willing to do business on the ground around those climate change issues you are so keen to promote.

The pressure on South Africa is not just external. South Africa doesn't need foreigners to remind them that action is needed to curb carbon emission; the local pressure is mounting so the Government party is slowly waking up to them as aggrieved local constituencies are becoming impatient.

On Wednesday this week residents from Secunda, a small "dorph" 140 kilometers west of Pretoria, protested against massive pollution, outside the HQ of the home grown petro-chemical multinational Sasol, one of the main culprits in South Africa as far as pollution goes. Sasol spits out some 75 million tons of greenhouse gases annually or about 21% of South Africa's total greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Earlier in the week environmental NGO Earthlife Africa stated that Sasol is one of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases on the African continent.

Other South African companies with a battle on their hands and that could face touch penalties if they are not cutting back on their pollution are power utility Eskom, minerals giant Anglo American and BHP Billiton.

Both Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade minister Ewa Björling gave upbeat messages to South African business- and Government decision makers at the conference venue in Midrand.

Reinfeldt said that the Swedish economy had grown by 50 % in 18 years but had managed to drop emissions by 10 %. Oil consumption had halfed since the Seventies.

Trade Minister Dr. Ewa Bjorling pointed out that these achievements was a result of a balancing act where one had to think green across the ministries, not just in the Ministry of Environment. Individual behavioural change was as important to achieve the overal gool to balance affordability and sustainability, she said.

THis may be what South Africa wants to hear. To grow fast and still cut emissions appeals to the country's leaders.

Certainly climate change and environmental concerns in South Africa has put pressure on companies and government alike. South Africa’s cities are facing massive traffic increases – 7 % annual increase in traffic – and there is very little done so far to stimulate energy saving- and carbon cutting transport even in public sector.

Large municipalities, like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town are faced with increased urbanization levels well over a million annually that adds to the pressure on the environment. The majority is people from rural areas in South Africa but a large chunk are also illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries. Most of them begin their new city life in slums 50 kilometers or more outside the city centers where the municipalities have an uphill task to supply basic energy, water, and sanitation and waste management.

Mr. Reinfeldt and his wife saw this poverty-stricken side of South Africa too, during a visit to the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town, and were reportedly humbled. If Mr. Reinfeldt picked up President Zuma’s message along the way remains to be seen.

For sure, largely due to apartheid and with an understandable fixation with primarily dealing with income- and racial gaps South Africa is very much a latecomer on the environmental bandwagon.

The inheritance from the last white administration was a mixed blessing. 92 % of the country's energy generation and 10 % of the fuel - the oil-from-coal technology was an invention to circumvent sanctions - comes from coal and authorities have decided to turn a blind eye to the consequences.

New policies to combat climate change are in the pipeline, in a bid to address environmental concerns at home and climate concerns from EU - the Swedish PM was primarily in South Africa to handle EU-South Africa relations in his capacity as EU chairman – are underway. But there is no way South Africa will turn away from coal, its leading fossil asset.

To handle power cuts the South African Government has embarked on a fast-track programme to add new power plants – mostly coal fired plants. The consequence is more emissions instead of less.

To make the equation work South Africa needs to catch up and take drastic energy saving and carbon saving measures. In other words the country needs to purchase clean technologies.

South Africa is a net importer of just about all machinery and distribution technologies. And the same goes for energy and carbon reducing technologies and processes for the public and private sectors.

So exporters of such technologies, such as Sweden, therefore are well advised to position themselves and take advantage of opportunities.

Sweden has generally not been not very good at try and capitalize on its old liberation credentials with South Africa – partially because the Swedish way of doing business institutionally separate the public and private sectors. Swedish state institutions, both central and on municipal levels, have “benefitted” to a degree from Sida sponsored programmes. The most famous Swedish contribution to South Africa is undoubtedly Swedish tax consultant’s assistance to help and more than quadrupling the country’s tax base.

The Sustainable City concept is another success story that made its debut at the 2002 World Summit of Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Infrastructure consultants Sweco on behalf of the Swedish Government developed it. In South Africa this integrated approach has been successfully implemented in Buffalo City, the larger East London area.

Since then Swedish development bureaucrats have been made a concerted push in the clean technology sector.

• Sweden and South Africa signed a bi-national agreement on the subject in 2007 to focus on skills development, technology transfer, infrastructure build up and increased trade.
• Last year Swedish Trade Council organized a seminar in Pretoria attended by 150 delegates from business, government and academic sectors.
• Grants and loans, through Swedish government agency Nutek and state owned private equity fund Swedfund have been searching and funding clean tech- and biofuel projects.

Niches to be explored include clean and energy efficient public transport systems; optimising pump systems for energy efficient and sustainable waste disposal; encouraging sustainable business investment strategies; and finding opportunities around the South African energy utility Eskom’s six-point plan on climate change.

For all these reasons Reinfeldt's visit was timely. The SA government want co-operation in this field. It also wants allies as South Africa doesn’t want to be wrapped over the knuckle at the Copenhagen climate change summit in November or face carbon curbs.

Naturally Sweden is by no means alone. Climate change is the name of the game for other Nordic countries too – and for just about every Northern Hemisphere exporter.

Swedish Prime Minister heads for Africa to promote Swedish style climate change

africasc_admin — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:55:00 -0500

When Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt this coming week sets his foot in South Africa he will moonlight a bit as sales person for AB Sweden, in between carrying out his official duties as the Chairman of the European Union - a postion he holds until the end of the year.

Prime Minister Reinfeldt will head a Swedish business delegation and participate in a South Africa business summit in Pretoria that will focus on “SymbioCity” – how Sweden tackles sustainability issues and what Swedish companies and authorities have to offer South Africa in this regard.
On the Swedish side the hope is that the summit will help to convince South African authorities, muncipalities in particular, about the importance of holistic city planning.

The idea is to find a symbiosis between urban technology systems that save natural resources and cost less.

SymbioCity is the trademark that reflects all knowledge and experience in regard to the Swedish approach to sustainability.

So during the conference here, (South) African companies, government departments, and others will be able to meet the creators of Swedish solutions that could be implemented here.

Some SymbioCity success stories in Sweden include housing development Hammarby Sjöstad, a former brownfield area of wharves and docks. The first construction phases were finalised in 2000. There will be 11,000 apartments, 25,000 inhabitants and 10,000 workplaces by 2015.
The district is now famous for its integrated planning approach, where every aspect has been developed with the whole in mind, according to the Swedish Trade Council.
Investments include:
Automatic underground waste collection systems;
District heating and cooling fuelled partly by local waste collection and by heat exchangers in water treatment;
Solar-powered hot water and electricity;
Biogas from household sewage water and waste;
Collection and filtration of runoff water; and
Super-efficient buildings, triple-glass windows, green roofs, etc.
A general assessment indicates a doubling of the total environmental performance, including: 40% less environmental stress; 50% less eutrophication; 45% less ground-level ozone; 40% less water consumption, the Swedish Trade Council said.
The SymbioCity approach has also been implemented in Buffalo City, South Africa.

SymbioCity - Swedish Trade delegation to South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 01:40:25 -0500

SYMBIOCITY - SUSTAINABILITY BY SWEDEN - A SWEDISH TRADE DELEGATION TO NAMIBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA, 8-10 September 2009

On 1 July Sweden assumes the Presidency of the European Union. In mid-September the EU-South Africa Summit will take place in South Africa and the Swedish Prime Minster, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt will be in South Africa to participate in the Summit.

In conjunction with his visit, the Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria together with the Swedish Trade Council in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa invite you to participate in an official Swedish trade delegation to Namibia and South Africa, 8-10 September 2009.

The purpose of this trade delegation is to increase trade and strengthen business by identifying new projects, investment opportunities and business partners. The delegation will give the Swedish companies the opportunity to meet with key decision makers from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, as well as provide a platform to market their products and services. The week will also offer various networking events.

SymbioCity – Sustainability by Sweden
As part of the trade delegation, the Embassy of Sweden and the Swedish Trade Council will host two SymbioCity events focusing on climate change and sustainable solutions from Sweden: one in Namibia on 8 September and one in South Africa on 10 September.

Climate change is one of the most critical global challenges of our time and an important theme during the Swedish EU-Presidency. A major problem for Africa is the lack of knowledge and technological solutions around the areas of environmental care and design, energy transformation, sustainable ICT infrastructure and environmentally friendly transport solutions.

The six areas of focus and discussion during the two days will be sustainability within:

COMMUNICATION
TRANSPORT
ENERGY
DESIGN
SAFETY AND SECURITY
WATER

Key stakeholders from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa will participate in SymbioCity seminars. The
programme for the delegation will include presentations from the Departments of Trade and Industry and
Environmental Affairs, a presentation on the South African and SADC economies amongst many others.
There will aslo be dinners and receptions for networking opportunities. A detailed schedule will follow.

The deadline for registration is 15 August 2009.

We look forward to your participation!

Best regards,

Swedish Trade Council

The Swedish Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa

http://www.swedishtrade.se/sydafrika

Sweco studies Lesotho power shortage

africasc_admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:05:09 -0500

JOHANNESBURG. Swedish Sweco has been commissioned to study opportunities to improve the acute shortage of electric power in Lesotho. There, like in many other parts of southern Africa, the electricty shortage is creating hinders for the development of both businesses and society, the company said.

"Sweco is involved in a number of similar consulting assignments both in and outside Sweden. There is a keen demand for our technical expertise in connection with upgrading, optimisation and expansion of power plants," says Eva Nygren, President of Sweco Sweden.

ABB wins 5-year SA contract

africasc_admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:11:41 -0500

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, said today that it has signed an agreement with Sappi to manage maintenance operations at its Kraft Mill in Cape Town, South Africa.

The ABB Full Service™ agreement covers a five-year period, and is the first agreement of its kind for ABB in the South African pulp and paper industry. Under the agreement, ABB will cost-effectively develop the plant’s maintenance operations and help increase its production efficiency.

“At Sappi we consider operational efficiencies as a strategic imperative,” said Jonathan Hermanus, GM Sappi Cape Kraft Mill. “The agreement allows the proven ABB methodologies to be implemented at Sappi Cape Kraft. The agreement also allow for the affected staff to improve their personal competencies in a leading technology company.”

As part of the agreement, ABB have assumed 31 maintenance employees and responsibility for all maintenance-related activities and equipment at the plant. ABB will manage the maintenance operations to contractually-agreed targets for plant performance.

The new contract complements more than 150 ABB Full Service relationships with customers in the paper, metals, mining, chemicals, oil and gas industries worldwide.

“The ABB Full Service™ concept is a partnership agreement where ABB manages and improves the performance of the customer’s production assets, thereby enabling the customer to focus on their core competencies,” said Shiven Sukraj, country service manager, ABB South Africa. “We work with our customers to add value to their bottom line by managing maintenance costs and improving overall equipment effectiveness through the implementation of proven best practices and the use of ABB’s significant pool of experts in the maintenance environment.”

Sappi is the world’s largest producer of coated fine paper and chemical cellulose, with over 17 000 employees on four continents and customers in over 100 countries. Sappi produces 6.9 million tonnes of paper and 3.5 million tonnes of pulp a year. Sales were US$5.9 billion in 2008. Sappi has four paper mills in the USA, 10 in Europe and six in South Africa, plus two pulp mills in Southern Africa.