Economy
AGROCAM Acquires GE’s Gas Engine to Boost Poultry Breeding
By Dipo Olowookere
A leading poultry hatchery in the central African region, located in Douala, and a member company of the JS NOUTCHOGOUIN Group, AGROCAM, has purchased one of GE’s Jenbacher J316 gas engines from Clarke Energy, GE’s distributor of Jenbacher gas engines in Cameroon, to address the fundamental challenges related to long-term power outages, which have a great impact on poultry breeding in Cameroon.
A severe shortage of essential electrical infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is making it difficult for efforts aimed at achieving more rapid social and economic development.
According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas will be the fastest-growing fuel in use for power generation in Africa.
Given the critical nature of poultry hatcheries, a half-hour power outage can completely cripple a business, leading to a complete overhaul of the hatchery installations—since all eggs in the incubator would perish as a result of improper storage temperature control and ventilation.
To help meet the demand for alternative energy supply to stabilize and rebuild, AGROCAM previously used a diesel generator for backup to the grid to ensure routine operation of its hatchery, which proved to be costly given the prolonged hours of grid power outages in addition to the environmental pollution associated with diesel generators.
“More than ever before, AGROCAM believes that a stable, reliable and cost-effective source of power is crucial to revive the poultry business in Cameroon, which suffered a big hit from the 2016 avian influenza (or bird flu) outbreak that paralyzed poultry farmers in Douala and the surrounding areas. Energy currently represents 50 percent of our operational costs,” said Noutchogouin Jean Samuel, board chairman, AGROCAM.
“GE’s natural gas-fired Jenbacher gas engine will produce a nominal electrical output to power the hatchery and egg tray production facility, providing a highly efficient, economical solution to meet our needs and realize substantial annual savings,” said Noutchogouin Philippe, managing director, AGROCAM.
GE’s Jenbacher J316 gas engine will produce 813 kilowatts of power. Heat will be recovered from the hot exhaust gases of the generator in the form of hot air and will be injected into the ovens of the egg tray production machines for drying. This will save the cost of fuel currently burned for drying and therefore, it will increase the efficiency and allow for the optimum use of the gas generator.
“The technical maturity and high degree of reliability of GE’s Jenbacher Type 3 gas engines make them a leader in their range. Long service intervals, a maintenance-friendly engine design and low fuel consumption ensure a high operating efficiency, while enhanced components prolong service life,” said Ali Hjaiej, business development director—Africa, Clarke Energy. “As AGROCAM battles local power outages from Cameroon’s unstable grid, GE’s proven, cost-effective, Jenbacher gas engine technology provides AGROCAM with a solution to help meet the growing energy needs of the region while increasing the efficiency and reliability of the customer’s grid.”
GE’s Jenbacher Type 3 gas engines offer proven savings on service and fuel consumption as well as excellent efficiency.
Two-stage mixture cooling enables high flexibility, while the turbocharger bypass evens out extreme operating conditions.
They are also suitable for a range of applicable gas types including natural gas, associated petroleum gas, propane, biogas, sewage gas, landfill gas, coal mine gas and other special gases such as coke, wood and pyrolysis gases.
In addition, the gas engines increase efficiency levels and reduce industrial emissions. The gas engines are designed for 80,000 full-load operation hours before a major overhaul.
“GE’s distributed power portfolio is perfectly suited to support the huge demand for reliable and uninterrupted power in sub-Sahara Africa. With an installed base spanning several countries in Africa, we are powering the continent with our scalable and modular solutions across various applications—particularly renewable and waste-to-energy, industrial power generation and cogeneration/CHP (combined heat and power) and oilfield power generation. In a CHP configuration, our Jenbacher gas engines can deliver electricity and heat at efficiencies of more than 90 percent,” said Oluwatoyin Abegunde, sales director for the sub-Saharan Africa region for GE’s Distributed Power. “By working with Clarke Energy on this important project, we are able to meet the needs of our customer and Cameroon for a more sustainable supply of electricity.”
By Dipo Olowookere
A 1.08 per cent growth was further printed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday on improved appetite for Nigerian stocks.
Data showed that the insurance sector lost 0.61 per cent yesterday due to profit-taking as the energy space gave up 0.08 per cent, while the commodity counter closed flat.
However, the industrial goods landscape appreciated by 2.06 per cent, the banking index improved by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.83 per cent.
At the close of business on Customs Street, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,563.92 points to 147,040.07 points from 145,476.15 points and the market capitalisation went up by N996 billion to N93.722 trillion from N92.726 trillion.
UAC Nigeria led the advancers’ log yesterday after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N96.80, Transcorp Hotels jumped by 9.71 per cent to N172.80, Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.89 per cent to N1.96, Ikeja Hotel soared by 8.74 per cent to N31.10, and Veritas Kapital leapt by 8.07 per cent to N1.74.
On the flip side, Union Dicon declined by 10.00 per cent to N6.30, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N3.10, AXA Mansard depreciated by 7.19 per cent to N12.90, FTN Cocoa lost 4.62 per cent to trade at N4.75, and Guinea Insurance dropped 3.36 per cent to finish at N1.15.
A total of 38 stocks ended on the gainers’ table and 17 stocks finished on the losers’ table, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Traders transacted 361.6 million equities for N14.8 billion in 21,051 deals yesterday versus the 1.9 billion equities worth N19.2 billion traded in 23,369 deals a day earlier, showing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 80.97 per cent, 22.92 per cent, and 14.20 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was Zenith Bank with 59.5 million units worth N3.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 46.1 million units valued at N973.0 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 29.4 million units for N560.4 million, FCMB transacted 27.9 million units worth N293.9 million, and Tantalizers sold 13.0 million units valued at N29.8 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.
The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.
The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.
The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.
Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.
As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.
However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.
With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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