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‘Last mile’ access software and hardware provider Okra Solar has secured fresh debt and equity in a series-A round of financing intended to scale up its mesh-grid technology for off-grid projects in Nigeria.

The issue leads with Egypt, where severe rolling power outages throughout the summer have left many wondering how the electricity supply industry (ESI) could fail, given the state has spent billions of dollars commissioning sufficient generation capacity for a reserve margin that is approximately double the peak load. African Energy focuses on DR Congo where the are pockets of progress – with commercial operators and development finance institutions supporting a range of projects – but the environment remains challenging with an uncertain election looming in December. African Energy also looks at the implications of the trial of two former senior Lundin Energy executives – accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan two decades ago – which began in Stockholm in early September. Power coverage leads with Kenya where the  AfDB and Korea Eximbank have agreed to provide finance for the national electricity grid system and resolve transmission gaps. There is also an update on South Africa, where trading and import/export licences have now been granted for the new National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA). Oil and gas coverage leads with Equatorial Guinea, which is seeing more dynamism in its upstream oil and gas sector, with independents planning drilling programmes across a number of blocks. The African Energy View reflects on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), where filling was completed in mid-September. The Abiy government believes power now available could enable a wave of economic development in heavily-indebted Ethiopia, but investors will be wary of continued conflict.

A target construction date has been set for the Ilute solar PV plant following the signing of an implementation agreement between the government and off-taker Africa GreenCo Group. Nairobi-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Serengeti Energy and Zambian partner Western Solar are jointly developing the project.  On completion, it will be Zambia’s first plant to sell power to a private intermediary offtaker.

Equatorial Guinea is seeing more dynamism in its upstream oil and gas sector, with independents planning drilling programmes across a number of blocks. Further phases are being planned for the Regional Gas Mega Hub project, amid renewed interest in natural gas resources, writes James Gavin.

National oil company Sonatrach has started natural gas production at three Gourar Basin fields, as part of the second phase of its South West Gas Project (SWGP).

Trading in Afentra’s shares resumed on 18 September, as the London AIM-listed company pushed on with plans to expand its interests in the Group Sonangol-operated shallow-water blocks 3/05 and 3/05A.

The Red Sea Power (RSP) Ghoubet wind plant has been commissioned. The $122m project is Djibouti’s first utility-scale independent power producer (IPP) and its first on-grid renewable energy plant. African Energy takes a look at the potential impact of the plant, which represents the first steps towards achieving the government’s energy transition goals.

Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZEC) has requested bids for two lots of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) transmission works on Unguja island, as part of the Zanzibar Energy Sector Transformation and Access Project.

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery will receive its first crude cargo by the start of October and should be producing up to 370,000 b/d of diesel and jet fuel later that month, according to comments by group executive director Devakumar Edwin to S&P Global Commodity Insights published on 18 September.

The African Development Bank and Korea Eximbank will jointly provide $114m to finance the national electricity grid system and resolve transmission gaps in western Kenya.

A report that two recently acquired vessels being converted into FSRUs are destined for South Africa further bolsters the idea that the long-stalled deployment of Karpower’s floating gas-fired capacity has gained momentum, despite continued opposition from campaigners

South Africa’s EPCM Holdings has been asked to carry out technical and commercial assessments on two possible routes for piping gas from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) and Bir Allah offshore fields, with a view to promoting industrialisation and supplying gas-to-power projects in Mauritania.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed the little-known Edgar Moyo as his energy and power development minister in a new, bloated cabinet – in which the re-elected president stirred up a storm by naming his son David Kudakwashe Mnangagwa (Kuda) as deputy finance minister and his nephew Tongai Mnangagwa as deputy tourism and hospitality minister.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has named Olayemi Cardoso to head the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Cardoso was Lagos state’s economic planning and budget commissioner from 1999 until 2005, when Tinubu was governor. He is the latest member of that team to be appointed to high office. Cardaso fills the vacancy left by Godwin Emefiele’s suspension and arrest in June, as the ex-governor was closely linked to disastrous policies enacted by outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

Cairo is pressing on with the implementation of its existing electricity supply industry (ESI) strategy in the face of severe headwinds. Some major reforms, including energy sector liberalisation, are certain to be delayed, but the authorities continue to drive big ticket projects forward – and to pile on new ones – while striving to keep international investors on-side in a highly precarious financial situation.