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The UK/Norway-owned IPP Globeleq has raised $99m of debt financing for Mozambique’s first wind project, adding to its southern African portfolio. Despite industry pessimism over the prospects for utility-scale projects, Globeleq is advancing a large pipeline of greenfield renewable and gas capacity in eastern and southern Africa and is bullish over the future of utility-scale projects, writes Marc Howard.

Despite a period of intense activity in markets such as Namibia and Nigeria, merger and acquisition deals around the continent are taking longer to get over the line, reflecting the more complex structures being adopted and the need to tap less familiar sources of funding, writes James Gavin.

A 250MW deal between Karpowership and the authorities in Libreville comes as the Turkish floating power plant provider continues to attract interest from other African countries in need of quickly deployable on-grid baseload capacity additions, including Liberia, Guinea and Equatorial Guinea, writes Marc Howard.

Another lesser-known UAE royal has turned up touting business in Africa, with RAK ruling family member Sheikh Ahmed Bin Faisal Al-Qassimi signing deals to develop cable manufacturing and smart electricity meter plants in Zimbabwe and an investment agreement in Uganda, writes Eleanor Gillespie.

South African electricity supply industry (ESI) lobbies have welcomed the creation of the Government of National Unity's new Department of Electricity and Energy (Dee) as a positive development that will enable a faster energy transition.

The National Transmission Company of South Africa opened for business on 1 July, marking an important step in the wider reform programme for state utility Eskom and the unbundling electricity supply industry.

A tanker loaded with 1m barrels of Libyan crude destined for China left Tobruk port in eastern Libya on 11 July. If it can take its cargo to market, a definitive boundary will have been crossed in the dismantling of National Oil Corporation (NOC)’s control over oil export and marketing – a trade already mired in allegations about the illicit exchange of oil for Chinese military drones

Johannesburg-based Decentral Energy has started operations at a 1MW solar PV plant to supply power to the GWK Farm Foods maize mill in Christiana, North West province.

Finland’s Wärtsilä has renewed its partnership with state utility Onee to maintain thermal power plants at Tan Tan and Dakhla.

The ANC has kept control of a swathe of portfolios, as South Africa’s Government of National Unity has raised hope that the new coalition can speed reforms and implement more effective policies to tackle persistent economic challenges, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Jon Marks.

Wärtsilä has added 120MW of gas-to-power capacity in Nigeria so far this year, in a sign that demand for commercial and industrial (C&I) plants remains robust. Its strong pipeline of orders in West and North Africa notably includes large offtakers seeking to balance their grids and enable increased renewable energy capacity, the Finnish engine manufacturer told African Energy.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has committed $1.5m to the 30MWac Vungu solar PV project in Midlands province. InfraCo said Vungu was set to become Zimbabwe’s first solar IPP with international project finance. It is also part of a national pilot programme to develop standardised documents for solar IPPs in the country.

Ethiopia is moving ahead with the fifth filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), according to Egyptian officials who cited evidence from satellite imagery.

Senior Kenyan officials have confirmed that the government’s moratorium on independent power projects should be lifted soon after the controversial 2024/25 budget is approved by the National Assembly. However, the passage of the finance bill has become entangled with anger over a cost-of-living crisis, with protestors storming the parliament on 25 June and even President Ruto’s apparent about-turn not calming tensions, writes Jon Marks.

The axing of subsidies on premium motor spirit (PMS) by President Bola Tinubu has made the fuel far more expensive for Nigerian drivers – prompting Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to test the local appetite for compressed natural gas as an alternative transport fuel.