The issue leads with a focus on the potential for nuclear power across the continent. Huge capital costs pose daunting obstacles to the several African countries considering nuclear power but a new generation of small reactors, while not yet commercially viable, may offer a solution for some to add significant capacity.
African Energy also examines the momentum gathering behind the e-mobility industry. In the likes of Kenya and Benin battery-powered buses, motorbikes and industrial vehicles could have a radical impact on urban environments but in many jurisdictions the lack of capital, infrastructure and policy support and the high cost of vehicles are holding back what could be a revolution.
Power coverage leads with the progress being made at regional power pools, which are critical if the African Union’s Continental Master Plan (CMP) is to achieve its vision of a fully interconnected African power grid.
The CMP is the focus of this issue’s African Energy View article. African Energy has examined the first data that has emerged from the third development phase of the African Union’s Continental Master Plan and found much to applaud, even though targets for investment and the installation of new generation capacity by 2040 remain far out of reach for many countries.
African Energy also examines South Africa's latest Integrated Resource Plan, which advocates the longer-term use of coal-fired power plants and reduces renewables’ role in the overall energy mix
The Live Data section focuses on a review of the power generation sector in 2023, with the latest data showing the year saw the lowest amount of newly built power since 2018.
Oil and gas coverage leads with Gabon where the new government’s decision to step in to recommend the state-owned Gabon Oil Company acquires local player Assala Energy sidelines French independent Maurel & Prom, which had expected to buy the business in the last days of the Bongo administration.
African Energy also reports on Shell's move to sell its subsidiary SPDC, with the onshore and shallow-water operator going to a consortium of local companies allied to industry veteran Samuel Dossou-Aworet. Additional upstream coverage includes an update from Namibia, where Galp has made a ‘significant’ Orange Basin find.
Finance and policy coverage leads with a look at Nigeria, where disbursement of the first tranche of Afreximbank’s $3.3bn crude-for-finance deal will help to ease Abuja’s immediate financial difficulties.