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Algerian officials can point to a number of significant advances to counter IOC arguments about a deteriorating investment environment.

The government has decided to remove a statutory deposit of $1m for every 10,000 barrels refinery capacity imposed on potential investors in the refining sector.

More heads could roll following the crisis at Sonatrach as rival factions battle it out. Following the arrests that have savaged state hydrocarbons company Sonatrach’s senior management team, energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil stands at the centre of the ‘perfect storm’ that has engulfed Algerian politics (AE 179/1).

Medgaz may or may not be on target, but almost all of Algeria’s other major gas export projects are experiencing delays, and the date for achieving export targets has been pushed back further. Meanwhile, the slump in southern European gas demand has contributed to a decline in exports and a fresh deterioration in Spanish-Algerian relations, writes Richard Nield in Buenos Aires

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo launched the construction of two solar power plants totalling 17MWp at Kaleo and Lawra in the Upper West Region on 4 February. The projects are being developed by the Volta River Authority with €22.8m ($25m) of funding from Germany’s KfW.A presidency statement said the 13MWp plant in Kaleo was due for completion by December, while the 4MWp project in Lawra would be completed in June. The projects, the first grid-connected solar power plants in the Upper West Region, will supply enough power for 32,000 households.

India’s Essar Oil and Gas has agreed to accept the Kenyan government’s proposal to let Libya’s Tamoil Africa Holdings take half of its share in the Mombasa refinery (AE 138/19). The 50% stake in Kenya National Petroleum Refineries previously owned by Shell, BP and Chevron was provisionally sold last year to Essar, subject to the government waiving its right of first refusal. However, Tamoil subsequently came in with a more attractive bid.

Djibouti has become the 14th member of the Lagos-based Africa Finance Corporation, a multilateral finance institution investing in infrastructure projects across Africa. “Djibouti is a small but important market, with natural strengths as a transport and logistics hub thanks to the government’s successful free trade policies and its location at the gateway to the Red Sea. Djibouti offers some great investment opportunities and AFC is delighted to be assisting Djibouti to meet its full growth potential and to create jobs for its citizens,” said president and chief executive Andrew Alli.

Eskom’s recent forum on the Transmission Development Plan 2015-24 (TDP) and Transmission Strategic Grid Study 2040 examined the planned shift in the transmission system, to accommodate changes to the generation mix from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme and other projects. But challenges remain around the funding of new transmission corridors and uncertainty about which technologies will comprise the bulk of future generation. Concerns about the cost of connecting remote projects to the grid have been well rehearsed.

US-based solar developer Renewvia Energy Corporation announced on 21 September that its first two micro-grid facilities are up and running on the Islands of Ndeda and Ringiti in Kenya’s Lake Victoria region. The solar-battery micro-grids, which have a total system capacity of 30kW, are the first source of sustainable power supply available to the nearly 10,000 residents and businesses of the two islands.

German companies win solar contracts; Aggreko installs 30MW power plant for EEPCo; WAPP and domestic transmission line tenders; ONE buys into Casablanca public lighting; Bids for Ruacana IV civil works, Transmission line tender; Grid expansion tenders

Construction will begin this year on some elements of a $350.7m power project funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), project consultant Fichtner has announced. “Each sub-project is currently in its design phase and Fichtner will follow international tendering procedures in the award of the supply and construction contracts as well as supervise their implementation,” said project manager Roland Neifer. Fichtner signed a five year contract with the Millennium Challenge Account-Malawi (MCA) in October to develop project designs, prepare tender documents, and supervise contractors. Design work on all sub-projects commenced in November.

Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (Steg) has commissioned a new gas-fired combined-cycle power station at Radès to complement the three existing plants at the site. Yokohama-based Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) and Tokyo-based Sumitomo Corporation will build the plant – probably to be known as Radès C – which will be financed with a Japanese government loan.MHPS and Sumitomo signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Steg to build the 450MW plant on 20 June.

Faced with global oversupply of crude, Sonangol and Puma Energy have agreed to use the Pumangol fuel terminal in Luanda to create a strategic fuel reserve for the country. Sonangol’s Girassol vessel carried out the first unloading operation at the terminal on 21 April, Angop reported.

Mineral resources and energy minister Leticia da Silva Klemens and Royal Dutch Shell executive vice-president, integrated gas ventures development Clare Harris have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Maputo on the allocation of gas from the Rovuma Basin for domestic use. Eni, Anadarko and their partners in the Rovuma Basin licences have agreed to make available a quantity of gas for the development of industrial projects in the Mozambique domestic market, and the MoU follows the results of a public tender for domestic gas development projects announced on 27 January.

Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (Egenco) has invited expressions of interest by 7 March for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of a 10MWp scalable solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant, auxiliary equipment and associated works at Nanjoka in Salima district. The contract will entail the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the ground-mounted project, related civil works and the supply and installation of infrastructure to connect the plant to the Nanjoka substation in Salima, according to a tender notice published on 4 February.