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Solarcentury Africa is to build a 7MWp solar PV plant for Dallaglio Investments’ Eureka gold mine in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central province. Zimbabwe is experiencing acute shortages of power that have prompted many mining companies and industrial companies to invest in their own power plants.

Two projects have reached commercial close under South Africa’s much-delayed renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme (REIPPP5)’s fifth bid window. The solar PV projects at Grootspruit in Free State and Graspan in Northern Cape are being developed by the Engie-Pele Consortium.

The South African government’s decision to approve state-owned PetroSA’s selection of an affiliate of Russia’s sanctioned Gazprombank as the preferred investment partner for the Mossel Bay GTL plant has sparked controversy.

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

National Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) registered 98 new power generation projects between July and September, with a combined capacity of 908MW, taking the total registered so far this year to 2.9GW. However, few of these new schemes include storage components, meaning that when solar or wind resources are unavailable there will be even more pressure on the grid.

Casablanca-based infrastructure financier Africa50 has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state power company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) to develop three solar photovoltaic plants and a series of transmission projects. Africa50 said it planned to develop the projects under the $4.5bn ($236m) Africa Green Investment (AGI) initiative announced on 11 December at the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai.

A consortium led by TotalEnergies has signed agreements for the 75MW Mulilo solar PV and battery storage project in Northern Cape, under the much-delayed Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme, while another RMIPPP project has reached commercial close and other schemes are expected to make decisions soon.

Eskom’s board of directors has named former company executive Dan Marokane as the troubled power utility’s new chief executive, eliciting the usual expressions of hope and doubt depending on how industry observers see South Africa’s direction of travel.

National tea producer Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is close to completing construction work on three hydroelectric power stations, which it plans to switch on in 2024, as the smallholders’ corporation prepares for more HEP and solar schemes to supply its huge operations.

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).

The World Bank Group’s soft lending International Development Association (IDA) has called for expressions of interest (EoI) from consulting engineering firms to advise on the procurement of solar PV and storage as part of its Comoros solar energy access project (Paesc).

Danish investor and developer Frontier Energy has announced a co-investment with three European development finance agencies for the 50MWp, under-construction, multi-site Planet Solar independent power producer (IPP) plant. Planet Solar will be Sierra Leone’s first large grid-connected IPP, the funders said.

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.

UAE-based players have used COP28 to commit – and recommit – to projects that could supply over 12GW of renewables capacity across Africa. Emiratis argue this displays a willingness to push projects forward and shoulder risk, while others have failed to deliver – and if critics complain they are also prominent in the oil lobby, Abu Dhabi can counter that the UAE has assumed a leading role in enabling Africa’s energy transition.

Published December 2023, this map shows the location of Guinea's Simandou iron ore projects and proposed rail and port infrastructure. The Simandou projects are shown in the wider context of Guinea's power infrastructure including generation sites that are operating, under construction or planned and actual and planned power transmission infrastructure.