Search results

The US Power Africa initiative’s Beyond the Grid programme on 20 June closed Round II of its Off-Grid Energy Challenge – a General Electric, US Agency for International Development and US African Development Foundation initiative, offering 18 $1.8m grants to developers of off-grid and small-scale renewables projects in each of the six Power Africa countries. Winners will be announced in mid-August. Beyond the Grid aims to facilitate investment in off-grid and small-scale power projects, and is specifically targeted at providing 20m new connections for households and businesses over a five-year period; it is partnering 27 companies that have committed to investing $1bn into off-grid and small-scale solutions.

Hyperdynamics has completed the acquisition of 10,000km of 2D seismic over its offshore exploration acreage.

China’s ZTE Corporation has completed the feasibility study for Zimbabwe Power Company’s (ZPC) Insukamini solar project, and is finalising an application for a concessional loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, the Herald reported. ZPC and ZTE signed a contract for the construction of the 100MW Insukamini solar project in October 2015. ZTE said at the time that it planned to set up a solar equipment manufacturing facility in Zimbabwe.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has confirmed its intention to contribute to the financing of the Djermaya solar plant. AfDB vice-president for power, energy, climate change and green growth Amadou Hott visited President Idriss Déby Itno on 5 July to discuss financing for the project, and several other areas of potential cooperation. An AfDB statement said the bank also plans to support other energy sector projects such as the electrical interconnection between Chad and Cameroon, and the rehabilitation of the Societe Nationale d’Electricité thermal plant.

The Tanzanian government has unveiled a new gas policy focused on prioritising the domestic market rather than the large-scale exports favoured by IOCs, writes Hugh Boylan.

Eni on 20 July announced a gas discovery on the Nooros exploration prospect in the Abu Madi West licence in the Nile Delta. The Italian company said the Nidoco NW2 Dir NFW well was drilled to a total depth of 3,600 metres and encountered a 60-metre gas-bearing sandstone interval of Messianian age. The discovery is estimated to contain 15bcm of gas in place, with associated condensates. The new discovery will be put into production in two months’ time through a tie-in to the Abu Madi gas treatment plant, 25km to the south-east.

Tullow Oil and Dana Petroleum have reached a settlement with Hyperdynamics subsidiary SCS Corporation in their dispute over drilling plans. The two companies have pulled out of the production-sharing contract (PSC), and transferred their interest in the long-lead items purchased by the consortium in preparation for the drilling of the Fatala well. Hyperdynamics has agreed a one-year extension to the PSC covering a smaller area, with a commitment to drill a well next year. In January 2016, Hyperdynamics took legal action against Tullow and Dana, saying they had failed to meet their obligations under the joint operating agreement and the PSC which required a well to be drilled by September 2016.

A community-owned 99kW solar mini-grid is providing power to the Mashaba community in Gwanda district, an arid rural enclave in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland South region. The 99kW Mashaba power plant, the country’s first such project, was implemented by Practical Action Southern Africa and its partners SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and Zimbabwe’s Dabane Trust under Practical Action’s Sustainable Energy for Rural Communities (SE4RC) project, whose goal is to ensure universal access to modern energy services in rural areas of Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has invited expressions of interest from consultants for a feasibility study for the expansion of the West African Gas Pipeline. An extension to Côte d’Ivoire had been mooted before the country’s civil conflict, and prime minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said on 29 July that a pipeline running between Lagos and Abidjan would enable more private power producers to improve energy supply in neighbouring countries. Côte d’Ivoire is already supplying power to Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana Benin and Togo via the West African Power Pool, and will also supply Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea once interconnection infrastructure is completed.

Since the anti-Qadhafi rebellion sparked off in mid-February, it has been hard to tell what oil is being exported from Libya and under what circumstances. The most recent estimate from the International Energy Agency is that exports have halted, writes John Hamilton. About two-thirds of Libyan oil is produced by joint ventures between National Oil Corporation (NOC) and international partners. Some of the oil being loaded from ports

Cairo-based Taqa Power, a branch of Citadel Capital-owned Taqa Arabia, has announced the commercial start-up of its 11MW natural gas-fired power plant in Dekheila Port, Alexandria.

With coal set to play a central role in Eskom’s bid to keep the lights on, London-based Universal Coal is scheduled to start production from its first mine, Kangala, a thermal project in the Witbank coalfield in Mpumalanga Province, in February 2014. There is infrastructure nearby and the four coal-fired power stations within a 70km radius offer a ready market. The mine has proven reserves of 20.8m tonnes and, in March 2013, the company signed a coal supply agreement with Eskom, committing to providing 2m t/yr from April 2014. Universal Coal listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2010 and is seeking to develop five coal projects in South Africa, all with established resources.

The Export Import bank of China has lent Zimbabwe $319m to finance the 300MW expansion of its Kariba hydropower station under a contract awarded to Sinohydro last year (AE 245/10). “This should go a long way in reducing power outages that characterise our power generation.

The governments of Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to renegotiate the terms under which Juba exports its oil, according to officials from the two countries. Transit fees of almost $25/bbl, combined with the drop in the global oil price and the discount at which Dar Blend crude trades, meant that South Sudan faced selling its oil at a loss. Output dropped sharply, heralding a possible shutdown and requiring an urgent renegotiation of transit terms.

A project to develop mapping software to find viable sites for micro-hydro projects, aiming to facilitate a mass market for turbines and ease financing for micro-scale projects, has been awarded £274,000 ($333,000) for a pilot project in Uganda. The software uses satellite imaging to look at river gradient and flow and combines it with geographic demographic data to pick out sites which have characteristics suitable for any turbine size.