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Kenya Power is showing signs of recovery after posting a pre-tax profit of Ksh332m ($3m) in its half-year results for July-December 2020, following a loss of Ksh7bn for the full year to June 2020. The power distributor said it expected to sustain the same trajectory into the second half of the financial year. Electricity sales are expected to keep rising as the economy recovers from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the third year of his presidency, Félix Tshisekedi has outflanked Joseph Kabila to the extent that the former president is now lying low at his ranch near Lubumbashi amid fears his senator-for-life status may be insufficient to give immunity from eventual prosecution. The resignation on 29 January of prime minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba was another victory over key Kabila allies in a war of attrition for control of Democratic Republic of Congo that has seen members of the ex-president’s Front Commun pour le Congo (FCC) flooding to join Tshisekedi’s Union Sacré́e pour la Nation (USN).

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has made sweeping changes to the leadership of Tanzania’s energy sector in the post-Magufuli period but macroeconomic, political and legislative obstacles to deeper change will remain for some time, writes Dan Marks.

ZETDC has been taken to arbitration by developer NRE in a dispute over US dollar payments, in a case with significant implications for the country’s struggling power sector and which also highlights the macroeconomic problems weighing on the Mnangagwa administration, writes Marc Howard

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has concurred with a decision by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to procure up to 11,813MW of new capacity. Concurrence from the regulator is necessary for the government to gazette the procurement and allow the process to formally begin. The decision follows another concurrence in June for 2GW to be procured through the risk mitigation IPP procurement programme (RMPPP).

Africa’s largest off-grid solar company Greenlight Planet has raised $90m of new financing as early Q3 figures show revenue has already surpassed Q1 levels despite the coronavirus pandemic. Further equity raisings are planned to fund the company’s expansion ambitions, writes Dan Marks

Total on 17 July announced the signing of a $14.9bn senior debt financing agreement for Mozambique’s first onshore LNG development. The project financing for the $20bn development is the biggest ever secured in Africa and includes direct and covered loans from eight export credit agencies (ECAs) and 19 commercial bank facilities, and a $400m loan from the African Development Bank.

The government has turned to a group of regional banks led by Libreville-based Groupe BGFIBank to provide some of the finance needed to repay its mounting domestic debt and pump funds into the ailing economy.

The United States has suspended up to $130m of foreign assistance to Ethiopia as a result of its dispute with Egypt and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, provoking a defiant response from the government in Addis Ababa. On 31 August, Ethiopia’s ambassador to the United States Fitsum Arega tweeted that he had met US officials and they had told him there would be a “temporary pause”.

The African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) on 19 August announced that World Bank Group veteran Manuel Moses would become the pan-African credit insurer’s new chief executive as of 1 November. Chief financial officer (CFO) Toavina Ramamonjiarisoa is serving as acting chief executive until Moses takes over.

As European majors look to a lower carbon future, Total has underlined its continued commitment to Africa as part of its strategy for carbon neutrality by 2050. On 30 September, the French major outlined global plans to transform itself from an oil and gas company into a broader energy company by focusing on LNG and electricity. Total aims to increase energy production by a third in the next decade, roughly from 3m to 4m boe/d, with half of the expansion coming from LNG and half from electricity, mainly from renewables.

The signing of a peace agreement with a coalition of rebel groups hands Sudan’s interim leadership a chance to press the restart button on relations with the regions, potentially ending years of conflict and yielding opportunities for the country’s shrunken oil sector, writes James Gavin

ARCH Emerging Markets Partners has completed a $40m investment in CrossBoundary Energy that will enable it to fund its pipeline of new projects. The solar developer is targeting $100m of funding as its role evolves to become both a developer and financier of projects, writes Dan Marks.

The government is prioritising the reduction of its external debt and boosting Egypt’s profile as a location for foreign direct investment with its plans for the sale of the three large gas-fired power stations built by Siemens and its partners between 2015 and 2018. The deal will involve the new Tharaa sovereign wealth fund and is being contested by six international bidders.

Mineral resources, green technology and energy security minister Lefoko Maxwell Moagi on 4 November launched a programme allowing the owners of rooftop solar PV to sell power to the grid. The government has allocated 10MW to the scheme during its first year, with 2MW reserved for residential customers and the remainder allocated to commercial and industrial consumers.