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Côte d’Ivoire is pushing for a big upturn in renewable energy investment as a new event opens in Abidjan

President Ruto has announced the cancellation of a much-criticised independent transmission project with Indian conglomerate Adani, along with another deal for the company to manage Nairobi’s main airport. The decision followed serious allegations of misconduct made against the Indian conglomerate and its senior management by the US authorities.

The ruling ‘Duo Diomaye/Sonko’ seems to hold all the cards needed to at least try to implement their ambitious Project Senegal 2050 agenda, after their Pastef party won some 130 of the 165 National Assembly seats in Senegal’s much-anticipated mid-November legislative election, writes Waly Dione Faye.

The long-delayed commissioning of the Chidobe Mizpah solar plant’s first phase in Hwange will now take place in early 2025. Power Ventures director Barry Nyabonda spoke to African Energy about the project’s progress and challenges during a 20 November tour of the plant. The Covid-19 pandemic, lack of United States dollar funding and difficulties sourcing long-term debt have delayed the project, which was scheduled to start operating by August 2021.

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema is likely to replace the well-thought-of head of Zesco Victor Mapani despite the fact that he is a supporter of the president and has achieved important successes during his tenure. It is a political decision.

A consortium of TotalEnergies Renewables South Africa, Mulilo Energy Holdings, and Reatile Renewables have reached financial close on an agreement to supply 260MW of wind and solar PV energy to Sasol and Air Liquide at Sasol’s Secunda site in Mpumalanga province.

Revised in November 2024, this map provides a detailed view of the power sector in Zambia. The locations of power generation facilities that are operating, under construction or planned are shown by type – including liquid fuels, gas and liquid fuels, natural gas, coal, geothermal, hybrid, hydroelectricity, nuclear, solar (PV), wind and biomass/biogas. Generation sites are marked with different sized circles to show sites of 1-9MW, 10-99MW, 100-499MW and 500MW and above. Existing and future transmission and distribution lines are shown ranging from 66kV to 400kV. Actual and planned cross-border interconnectors are also shown including lines to Botswana, DR Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. An inset shows in greater detail the area to the south of Lusaka, including the northern part of Lake Kariba and the Kariba hydroelectric power plants. Power generation data was drawn from our African Energy Live Data platform, which contains project level detail on power plants and projects across Africa. The map is presented as a PDF file using eps graphics, meaning that there is no loss of resolution as the file is enlarged.  

The Oasis consortium, led by EDF Group and Mulilo, has reached financial close on three battery energy storage system (Bess) projects in South Africa’s Northern Cape and North West provinces. The projects are part of the first round of the country’s Battery Energy Storage IPP Procurement Programme (Besippp).

State-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has admitted that it does not have ownership documents for the land at its flagship Turkwel hydroelectric power plant, leaving the site vulnerable to encroachment by other users.

First Quantum Minerals is raising production at its Kansanshi copper mine in Zambia’s North Western Province, leading to higher electricity demand. With state utility Zesco unable to step in with additional power, the Canadian miner has turned to IPPs and power traders on the Southern African Power Pool.

Prolonged drought has profoundly impacted hydroelectric power-dependent Zambia. The government is enacting reforms to mitigate the crisis, most significantly increasing tariffs in October on an emergency basis – a move which could pave the way for permanent cost-reflective tariffs. Developers are also advancing a solar PV pipeline that would see installed capacity increase tenfold by 2028. This informs an optimism from some players, such as private utility CEC, over the power sector’s longer-term prospects, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka.

The issue leads with a series of articles on Zambia, where prolonged drought has profoundly impacted hydroelectric power output. The government is enacting reforms to mitigate the crisis, most significantly increasing tariffs in October on an emergency basis – a move which could pave the way for permanent cost-reflective tariffs. Developers are also advancing a solar PV pipeline that would see installed capacity increase tenfold by 2028. Coverage includes a revised Zambia power map, interactive power data charts, plus articles focused on the much delayed ZTK power interconnector and C&I news. African Energy also examines the latest developments in Egypt's programme of giga-scale renewables projects.  Two new renewable energy deals, with an aggregate 1.2GW/720MWh capacity, are part of an “accelerated renewable energy initiative”, while early-stage agreements for a cumulative 5.2GW of wind and solar capacity were also signed in November. Power coverage also includes project updates from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Oil and gas coverage leads with  Côte d’Ivoire. Eni has acquired exploration licences for four bocks that adjoin Block CI-205, where Eni and its partner Petroci Holding announced the Calao discovery in March – CdI’s second-largest ever find. African Energy also examines news that the Libyan government is about to claim back more than $60bn of until now unknown assets, which investigators say were secretly invested in United States Treasury bonds by the former Qadhafi regime. The African Energy View focuses on Senegal, where the ruling ‘Duo Diomaye/Sonko’ seems to hold all the cards needed to at least try to implement their ambitious Project Senegal 2050 agenda, after their Pastef party won some 130 of the 165 National Assembly seats in a much-anticipated mid-November legislative election.  

The commissioning of the 5MW Mutirikwi hydroelectric power plant – one of the few renewable energy projects funded by local investors – is welcome news for Zimbabwe, which has been battered by record levels of load shedding in recent months.

The Sirexe 2024 event has drawn senior officials to Abidjan, drawing commitments from Côte d’Ivoire to further develop its resources and energy industries

The Libyan government is about to claim more than $60bn of until now unknown assets, which investigators say were secretly invested in United States treasury bonds by the former Qadhafi regime. But, with much of the paper held in smaller American midwestern financial institutions, there will likely be a massive battle to establish title to the bonds, and decide how and to whom they should be returned.