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An initiative to bring local authorities, business and consumers together to develop the distributed supply of electricity to Cameroon’s many isolated communities was launched in Yaoundé on 10-13 March. The Invest’Elec initiative is supported by regulator Agence de Régulation du Secteur de l’Electricité (Arsel) and the European Union. They are seeking to establish a public-private partnership (PPP) model based on projects that use off-grid solutions to build integrated generation-distribution systems. The focus is on distributed mini-hydroelectric and biomass projects, seen as most appropriate to Cameroon’s resources base, and a few solar projects in the Far North region.

The battle to supply half of Namibia’s liquid fuel supplies has descended into a legal brawl, with Glencore planning to sue the government and Namcor’s chief executive suspended, writes Our Windhoek Correspondent.

The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has given Sri Lankan firm VS Hydro a contract to construct a 5MW hydropower plant for four factories on the Gura River in Nyeri, central Kenya at a cost of Ksh1.3bn ($15m).

New York Stock Exchange-listed Ormat Technologies on 2 May began commercial operations at the 36MW plant II at the Olkaria III geothermal power project in Kenya. Commissioning of the unit takes the capacity of the facility to 84MW; the first two phases of the project were completed in 2000 and 2009.

The Off-Grid Clean Energy Facility (OCEF) invites proposals by 22 May from private companies, NGOs, communities and other entities to demonstrate viable off-grid, clean energy solutions. The Millennium Challenge Account-Benin (MCA-Benin II) will provide funding totalling $12m for the successful projects. MCA-Benin II was created to implement the programme of a second grant agreement (compact) signed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, acting on behalf of the US government, in September 2015.

The Ministry of Water & Energy plans to carry out feasibility studies for three more large-scale hydropower plants on the Abay (Blue Nile) River

CIC Energy Corporation has appointed Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) as owner’s engineer for the Mmamabula power project, following a preliminary agreement with Shanghai Electric Group (SEC) as the preferred engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. Financial close on the project is due by mid-2009 (AE 150/6).

The UAE’s Dana Gas has announced a discovery from a new oil zone in its Komombo concession, marking the first discovery in the company's $170m drilling campaign for 2008.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) on 16 May issued a first bond denominated in Rwandan francs, raising RF15bn ($22m) to expand the availability of long-term local currency finance for local businesses while strengthening domestic capital markets. The five-year bond, dubbed Umuganda, marks the first placement by a non-resident issuer in Rwanda’s domestic capital markets. It is also the IFC’s first issuance in East Africa under the IFC Pan-African Domestic Medium Term Note Programme, which was launched in May 2012 to support capital market development in the region.

The status of the international oil market over the past several months could scarcely have been a less propitious environment for National Oil Corporation (NOC)’s ambitions to restore Libya’s position as an important exporter of crude into the Mediterranean Basin. The fall in the global oil price from above $100/bbl in the autumn to about $86/bbl in early November was accompanied by a glut of light sweet crudes, which obliged the international marketing department to discount from the already depressed dated Brent benchmark by historically large margins.

Reports that Qatar plans to build a 120,000 b/d refinery at La Skhira on Tunisia’s Gulf of Gabes coast, to refine Libyan and other crude, revives a project that was first discussed in the 1990s as Tunis sought to add to domestic capacity beyond its ageing 35,000 b/d Bizerte refinery and develop its potential as an export hub

Zola Electric – formerly Off Grid Electric – is preparing to launch a new smart storage system targeting on-grid residential and commercial customers. The Infinity system has been in development for more than two years and was a major focus for funding from a $55m equity round completed in early 2018. The system is significantly larger than most solar home systems currently on the market, with 300W solar panels and 1.6-3kWh batteries, and includes features that mean it can play a very different role in power supply, leading Zola to call it an autonomous power grid rather than a solar home system.

Aranos Gas, a Namibian/South African joint venture between SADC Minerals and ASS Investments, has reportedly started drilling for coal-bed methane (CBM) in the Aranos area of Block 2419, in Namibia’s first non-conventional gas project.

Recent events at state utility Sonelgaz Holding seem to point to the limits of radical thinking on major Algerian energy sector problems. In June, the government converted Sonelgaz’s burdensome AD200bn ($2.72bn) overdraft into capital, effectively wiping out the debt (AE 190/9).

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has named Transparency International vice chairman Akere Muna as sanctions commissioner. The job is a part-time position heading the new Sanctions Office, which is part of measures to strengthen the AfDB’s anti-corruption agenda and procurement procedures. The Sanctions Office will impose penalties where sanctionable practices have taken place in projects administered, financed or supported by the bank group.