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The African School of Regulation (ASR) is expected to soon appoint a permanent director to succeed interim director Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, who was appointed in July 2022. Officially launched in September 2023, with its headquarters at the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in Accra, ASR has in fact been running seminars and conferences with regulators across the continent for more than 12 months.

African electricity markets are on the threshold of genuine reform in 2024, even if policy-makers’ grandest ambitions are destined to meet with disappointment. 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.

Africa-focused downstream giant Vivo Energy has finalised the acquisition of Indian Ocean liquid petroleum gas (LPG) player, Société Industrielle et Gazière de Mayotte (Somagaz). The move follows Vivo’s 2023 purchase of stakes in African LPG businesses in Namibia and Réunion.

The final COP28 communiqué included – for the first time – a commitment to eventually phase out fossil fuels, going beyond previous declarations that focused on coal. However, there are few signs that Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members and their Opec+ allies, led by Russia, have any intention of allowing their core source of revenues to disappear anytime soon. So what can we learn from recent statements by oil producers – including Opec+’s quota commitments at a meeting on 30 November – and from leaks and comments made during COP28?

Kenya's  Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (Rerec) has commissioned the Mageta Island solar PV mini-grid in Bondo, Siaya county.

Nigeria's  Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has announced a construction start at two off-grid solar PV systems in the Federal Capital Territory, backed by $12.4m from the South Korean government.

Independent power producer Momnai has started construction at two plants for Bamburi Cement.

State utility Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) has called for expressions of interest (EoI) from consultants to provide transaction advisory services for the World Bank Group’s Namibia Renewable Energy Scale-Up Support Project (NRESUSP).

UK independent Afentra said on 8 December it had completed the acquisition of a 14% interest in Block 3/05 and a 40% interest in Block 23 from national oil company Sonangol.

The UAE has had to deal with some unwelcome scrutiny of its energy strategy after the COP28 climate conference opened in Dubai on 30 November. Observers had long warned that holding such an event in the world’s seventh largest oil producer was likely to lead to friction and so it has proved. African Energy’s sister publication Gulf States Newsletter (GSN) gives a view from the region, including a roundup of the big pledges made in a ‘transactional’ first week.

In a recent conversation, an independent power producer (IPP) told African Energy that its southern African utility client has been paying for its electricity “more or less on time”. The problem was those payments were being made in a local currency that cannot be exchanged as “the central bank has no money”. The IPP could turn to international arbitration to try and enforce its contract terms, “but what’s the use of that,” the executive asks, “when there’s nothing to be had?”

A series of increasingly high-profile and commercialised UN climate change summits has driven a global boom in climate finance, but Africa is being left behind as a result of poor infrastructure, weak governance and other issues. As discussions start at COP28 in Dubai, African Energy assesses the data and what needs to change if Africa is to hit its climate change targets.

It is going to be a challenging and busy COP for summit president Sultan Al-Jaber, but with an inaugural $420m capitalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund announced on the first day, the multi-tasking Emirati came out swinging against his critics. Al-Jaber’s role as chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has prompted allegations of a conflict of interest and abuse of COP for commercial, fossil fuel-related ends. But other agendas are afoot, and as COP has morphed into one of the world’s largest business conferences, the geopolitical horse-trading has further intensified.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has unconditionally withdrawn civil claims totalling $1.1bn against Italian major Eni that had been lodged in Italian courts, ending a long-running legal dispute centred on corruption allegations. In a statement to African Energy, Eni said it had received a letter confirming the withdrawal and said it was “the final step towards the truth”.

The M-Pesa Foundation Academy has commissioned a grid-tied solar PV system. The 630-panel plant is expected to reduce grid consumption by up to 60%.