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President Nana Akufo-Addo’s cash-strapped government is mired in disputes with power producers, oil companies and other big investors, amid creditors’ concerns over its refinancing plans and a build-up of payment arrears. This is complicating the finalisation of an expected $3bn IMF facility and efforts to relaunch Ghana’s investment drive, write Jon Marks and AE staff.

The Ghanaian government is making another effort to renegotiate state electricity distributor Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG)’s supply deals with independent power producers (IPPs), in a bid to replace take-or-pay agreements that have left the state liable for unused electricity while amassing large debts.

Recourse to arbitration by Tullow Oil – Ghana’s largest crude producer, along with Dallas-based Kosmos Energy, through their equity stakes in the Jubilee and Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (Ten) fields – underlines a number of difficult issues facing the London (LSE)- and Ghana Stock Exchange-listed company.

HDF Energy and Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) have agreed to develop Zimbabwe’s first green hydrogen power plant, with the French GH2 developer promising financial close soon.

 London-listed Tullow Oil reported a rise in revenues and profits in its full-year results issued in early March and sought to focus attention on its prospects in Ghana and Kenya instead of its high levels of debt and ongoing litigation issues. African Energy takes a closer look at Tullow’s prospects for 2023 and beyond.

Savannah Energy has vowed to pursue all its legal options – including arbitration at the ICA in Paris – after Mahamat Idriss Déby’s ‘transitional’ government nationalised the upstream oil assets the UK independent had acquired from ExxonMobil in December.

Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has acquired a stake in Ubiquity Energy, owner of electricity trading platform Energy Exchange of Southern Africa.

The phase three expansion of Amea Power’s Blitta solar PV and battery energy storage plant in Togo was formally launched by President Faure Gnassingbé on 22 March. Blitta – officially named the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Solar Power Plant – was Amea’s first African project to be commissioned, in June 2021

Legal protests are under way, but in all likelihood president-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu will take over the Aso Rock Presidential Villa following their inauguration, scheduled for 29 May.

In a move its principals said would create Africa’s largest renewable energy (RE) company, Amsterdam-headquartered Lekela Power BV on 20 March announced the completion of its acquisition by the Infinity Power Holding BV joint venture of Cairo-based Infinity Power and United Arab Emirates state-owned Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company).

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Magnis Energy Technologies has signed a binding funding proposal for up to A$50m ($33.4m) with US investment fund SBC Global.

National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on 10 March approved an 18.65% increase in Eskom’s electricity tariffs for standard customers from 1 April and an 18.49% increase for municipalities from 1 July.

Analysis of the latest information on the African Energy Live Data platform shows generation capacity in the Central African region should expand by 2.4GW by 2027, almost all of it built by private developers. And while hydroelectric power provides the bulk of 4.3GW existing capacity, other sources of renewable power are starting to gain a stronger foothold.

Published March 2023, this graphic consists of three trend charts illustrating Central Africa's installed and pipeline power generation capacity and a map showing the location of generation projects where partial or full commercial operations are scheduled to begin over the 2023-2027 period. Data for the charts and map is drawn from African Energy Live Data, a power database with detailed profiles of more than 7,000 power generation plants and projects across Africa and the entities behind them.

Rabat has pushed ahead with legal reforms that could open up the electricity supply industry and encourage more self-generation, but observers fear the entrenched interests of state utility Onee and regional utilities will continue to delay meaningful change, writes John Hamilton.