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Amid considerable difficulties, a series of financial and trade agreements are underpinning the government’s hopes for economic recovery following the recent end of devastating conflict with Tigray rebels. Liberalising reforms may encourage more private investment in the power, agriculture and other sectors, while the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s construction continues apace, but with debts weighing heavy and peace still fragile Ethiopia’s challenges remain daunting.

A project to build a €430m ($475m) gas-to-power (GTP) plant in the northern coastal city of Saint Louis by the previously obscure local developer Ndar Energies has attracted criticism by civil society and academic figures for the lack of transparency around the contract award.

The rapid development of five lithium projects bodes well for Zimbabwe’s potential as a minerals exporter and demonstrates China’s central role in mineral developments, as Harare takes steps to promote domestic processing industries. But serious governance concerns remain over artisanal mining and customs-evading exports.

Strong resistance from the public has prompted the government to abandon a national state of disaster for electricity sector announced in February and to reverse a controversial decision to loosen reporting rules on spending by national utility Eskom

Expanding energy access is one key to the government’s strategy to spur economic growth by way of industrialisation. The strategy is also expected to include privatisation of some state-owned enterprises (SOEs), notably in the sugar industry.

The issue leads with a detailed examination of Ethiopia’s attempts to court investment to revive an economy blighted by the Tigray War. Deputy editor Marc Howard looks at how power sector reform may be on the cards as the vast Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam’s construction continues apace. In our power section, Southern Africa editor Tonderayi Mukeredzi has the latest on developments in South Africa’s power sector, including the government’s reversal of the ‘national state of disaster’. Also Waly Dione Faye looks at the Saint Louis gas-to-power plant award to a previously largely unknown developer and the reaction from journalists, academics and civil society figures in Senegal. Our focus on Commercial and Industrial projects examines developments in Zimbabwe’s mining sector. Tonderayi Mukeredzi reports on demand for power being driven by a surge of critical minerals activity. In Upstream news, hydrocarbons editor James Gavin looks at how Africa’s main crude grades are finding themselves priced out of the largest Asian markets, including China and India, by cheaper Russian crude. Nigeria’s long-delayed Dangote refinery may change the game, however. We also look at QatarEnergy’s entry into the Mauritanian market, another sign of the ambitious Gulf player’s strategy of building up a sizeable upstream footprint around the globe. In Transition Minerals we take a detailed look at the rapid development of five lithium projects, which bode well for Zimbabwe’s potential as an African critical minerals powerhouse. However serious governance concerns remain over artisanal mining and customs-evading exports. For Future Fuels, North Africa editor John Hamilton looks at how China Energy Engineering Corporation expects to start implementing its Egyptian green ammonia production facility in May. The $5.1bn facility requires more than 2.2GW of wind and solar generation capacity. In Finance, we assess the impact of Egypt’s debt crisis on energy and power sector investors. The View draws on analysis of African Energy Live Data’s project pipeline to 2027 to argue that despite calls for sub-Saharan Africa to use its natural gas resources and build more gas-to-power plants, it is hydroelectric power that will drive the biggest growth in electricity generation over the period.

One of the most familiar – and well liked – faces on the African power development scene over many years of significant achievement coupled with good humour in the face of adversity, Bob Chestnutt has died after a sudden illness.

Peace has largely held since the 2 November agreement between Ethiopia’s federal government and the northern Tigray region, brokered by the African Union and sealed in the South African capital Pretoria, which ended two years of war. But domestic stakeholders and international partners are looking on nervously as violence has flared up elsewhere, pointing to the fragility of communal relations in a diverse country with a population estimated at 123m.

Published April 2023, this map focuses on existing and planned power generation infrastructure serving Zimbabwe's mining sector. The locations of mines across the country are shown with mine name and operators marked. A panel lists power projects that are operating or planned at the mines, with capacity and fuel type indicated. Existing and future transmission and distribution lines are shown ranging from 132kV to 400kV.

Australia Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Ionic Rare Earths has received approval  rom Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to start work on the demonstration plant at its 5m t/yr Makuutu magnet and heavy rare earths project.

Independent power producer (IPP) Equinox Energy is aiming to raise $12m to build a 10MW solar PV plant in Makaha, a ward in the Mudzi district of Mashonaland East province, via a combination of equity and debt finance.

South Africa’s relations with the United Arab Emirates have soured after the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services said it was only told in early April about a mid-February UAE court ruling that Atul and Rajesh Gupta would not be extradited to face charges of money laundering, fraud and corruption. It is another twist in the ‘state capture’ scandal that scarred Jacob Zuma’s presidency and whose ramifications continue to this day.

London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed Pensana said on 3 April that $550m of financing for its Longonjo mixed rare earth sulphate mine in Angola and its Saltend rare earth separation facility in the United Kingdom was “at an advanced stage”.

As Bola Ahmed Tinubu prepares for his scheduled 29 May inauguration, Africa Confidential and African Energy are co-hosting a high-level panel on continuity, change, energy strategy and the policy mix in Nigeria on 18 April, during the AIX Energy in Transition event in London.

London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed Tirupati Graphite said on 3 April that it had completed the acquisition of Suni Resources, the Mozambican subsidiary of Australia Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Battery Minerals.