The issue leads with a series of articles examining the prospects for green hydrogen (GH2) across North Africa, with a focus on Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The scale of the GH2 opportunity emerging in the region is potentially transformative.
However, to date just one tiny pilot project is up and running and there is still no firm evidence that giga-scale projects can be made bankable. If the prospect is a mirage, it is one that has taken in a swathe of respected global investors. With an ever-increasing amount riding on the outcome, failure will be a disaster, but success could revolutionise the fortunes of the region.
Power coverage leads with South Africa. Pretoria faces an arduous job in financing its energy transition, which could cost as much as $500bn over the next three decades. The number and size of investments have been limited to date and the scarcity of funding threatens to stymie the government’s climate change targets, but local lenders are now stepping up to bridge some of the financial gap.
African Energy also takes a closer look at Botswana, where solar, wind and battery IPPs have started to be implemented in a trend that marks a clear shift away from today’s heavily coal-dominated power mix. Renewable energy is slated to account for 30% of grid supply by 2030. The state-owned Botswana Power Corporation is overseeing the reforms with a view to generating excess on-grid power by 2027, underpinned by battery storage.
Oil and gas coverage leads with Nigeria, where there is rising momentum for upstream deal flow, but obstacles remain. African Energy also looks at NNPC's renewed focus on backing long-stalled LNG prospects and examines a dispute between billionaire Alike Dangote and state-owned NNPC where both sides are attempting to pin the blame for rising pump prices on the other.
The African Energy View also focuses on Nigeria. Mounting efforts by the Presidency to place President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the centre of accelerated momentum for Nigerian hydrocarbons developments highlight the extent Abuja needs to build confidence in the sector’s ability to
grow once more, given its status as the key source of revenues for potentially decades more to come.
The issue also features an update on Libya. Crude oil cargoes worth some $400m have been exported by an obscure private company, in the latest sign of a breakdown of authority in the country. Blockades and force majeure stoppages at other oil facilities, along with the exile of a controversial central bank governor, threaten to plunge the country into an existential crisis.
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