https://newsletter.en.creamermedia.com
Africa|Business|Energy|Financial|Gas|Mining|Oil And Gas|Oil-and-gas|Power|PROJECT|Projects|Renewable Energy|Renewable-Energy|Solar|Storage|Operations
Africa|Business|Energy|Financial|Gas|Mining|Oil And Gas|Oil-and-gas|Power|PROJECT|Projects|Renewable Energy|Renewable-Energy|Solar|Storage|Operations
africa|business|energy|financial|gas|mining|oil-and-gas|oilandgas|power|project|projects|renewable-energy|renewable-energy-company|solar|storage|operations

TotalEnergies CEO says IMF debt rules hobbling African green energy projects

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne

Photo by Reuters

15th February 2024

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

Renewable energy investments in Africa are being hobbled by insufficient government loan guarantees, as the International Monetary Fund keeps a tight leash on country indebtedness, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Wednesday.

Pouyanne said currently electricity projects in Africa suffer from "a problem of solvency... you have a risk not to be paid". "So when a renewable developer wants to develop, and it's obvious you have huge potential, he will go and see the government and ask for guarantees," he said.

"But the African governments, they will tell you, are not able to give these guarantees because the IMF is coming and telling them, 'Don't go and give these guarantees, you are already over-indebted'."

Pouyanne said the result was that in Africa, his company was largely limited to business-to-business mining projects, because it is an industry where they know they will receive payment.

TotalEnergies has oil and gas operations in 40 African countries, plus two solar parks in Egypt, with plans to build a hydroelectric power plant in Mozambique and a solar power and battery storage project in South Africa.

Its global renewable energy projects totalled 22 GW of installed capacity by the end of 2023,  the most of the oil majors, located in Latin America, Eurasia, the US and the Middle East.

The comments were made at a government-industry dialogue hosted by the International Energy Agency focusing on Africa and renewable energy.

"I am disappointed not to see ... a real international financial body to counterguarantee all these African states — and not to ask them more than what we are asking," Pouyanne said.

He said that on TotalEnergies' 1 GW solar plant in Iraq, the project's international financiers were asking the Iraqi government for more loan guarantees than TotalEnergies, leading the French company to fully self-insure the project to avoid burdening the government with more debt.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

Showroom

Willard
Willard

Rooted in the hearts of South Africans, combining technology and a quest for perfection to bring you a battery of peerless standing. Willard...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd

Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Magazine round up | 08 November 2024
Magazine round up | 08 November 2024
8th November 2024
Value-adding titanium dioxide pigment under development
Value-adding titanium dioxide pigment under development
6th November 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.086 0.188s - 211pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now