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With the sale of key Power Holding Company of Nigeria assets high on President Goodluck Jonathan’s agenda, state privatisation agency Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) says 331 companies have expressed interest in the sales of 11 distribution companies, and six generating assets.

Pura Vida Energy has announced the sudden departure of chief executive Damon Neaves. Non-executive chairman Simon Eley will take over temporarily and the board will seek a replacement before a planned three-well drilling programme on the Nkembe Block offshore Gabon. Pura Vida is looking for a partner to come up with around $17m for the drilling programme. On 17 March, the Australian Securities Exchange suspended the company’s shares from trading for failing to lodge half-year accounts for the six months to 31 December.

Brazil’s Eletrobrás has signed an agreement with Electricidade de Moçambique for technical co-operation on a viability study of a transmission line in Mozambique

Global asset manager The Carlyle Group has closed its first private equity fund targeting sub-Saharan Africa at $698m, almost $200m above its initial target of $500m. “The success of the fundraising reflects investors’ appetite for the strong economic growth that the region has experienced over the last decade, as well as the prospects for future economic development across the continent,” said managing director and co-head of the Sub-Saharan Africa advisory team Marlon Chigwende.

Ethiopia’s plans to attract more foreign capital into its power industry took a step forward in late October as the government announced 14 projects that it wants to build and run as public-private partnerships (PPPs). The plan to attract private finance for the planned hydropower and solar schemes is a departure for a government that has borrowed heavily over the last decade from Chinese banks and elsewhere to construct large-scale dams such as Gibe III and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), as well as for major transmission projects.

On 14 December, Siemens signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ghanaian independent power producer (IPP) Rotan Power Ltd to develop and build a 660MW combined cycle power plant at the Aboadze Power Enclave in the Western Region. The project is set to be developed over two phases, with the first scheduled to be completed by 2023 and the second by 2025.

Australia’s WHL Energy has said that Ophir Energy has relinquished its Seychelles blocks. “Under the terms of the Petroleum Agreement, the blocks revert back to the Seychelles government,” WHL said. It said national oil company PetroSeychelles had formally notified the original licence holder PetroQuest International that the petroleum agreement dated 14 April 2014 relating to Blocks 5B/1, 5B/2 and 5B/3 was terminated. WHL acquired the blocks from PetroQuest in 2010 and farmed out 75% to Ophir in 2014. “WHL Energy continues to work closely with the Seychelles government in assessing the forward strategy for this prospect,” the company said.

BOTSWANA: More power from Mozambique; KENYA: KPLC seeks bids for HFO plants; MOZAMBIQUE: EdM seeks substation bids; NIGERIA: GE tie-up; SOUTH AFRICA: Koeberg maintenance; UGANDA: Fichtner to study Isimba hydro project

After signs that Botswana’s proposed Mmamabula coal-fired power project had lost its way, CIC Energy has appointed Rothschild as the financial adviser for the scheme, whose downsized 1,200MW first phase retains a 2012/13 start-up date, writes Kevin Godier.

Germany’s RWE Dea has announced a fifth discovery in the Sirte Basin, where it has three concessions awarded in 2003.

The Ministry of Energy and Oil is seeking bids for the supply and installation of transmission infrastructure to connect the 100MW Gorou Banda diesel plant to the grid. The work for the power plant, which is under construction at a site on the outskirts of the capital Niamey, is funded by loans from the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The BOAD is providing CFA40bn ($83m) of the estimated CFA80bn cost of the project, while the IDB is providing another CFA17.3bn and the government is providing the balance.

Côte d’Ivoire’s power supply problems will be relieved from the beginning of May, when Aggreko installs 50MW of temporary power at Vridi.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has announced it has completed construction of a 296km, 230kV power transmission line between Ethiopia and Sudan (AE 224/4). The line connects the Ethiopian towns of Bahir-Dar and Metemma with the Sudanese border town of Gedaref, and the power grid of Sudan. The line, constructed with $41m of funding from the World Bank, will transmit an initial 100MW of electricity from Ethiopia.

Energie du Mali (EDM) has invited expressions of interest from consultants by 14 May to carry out technical, economic, financial, environmental and social feasibility studies as well as elaboration of tender documents for the construction of two solar PV power plants in Kambila and Safo totalling 90MWp. The consultancy services are to be financed from French Development Agency (AFD) funding for construction of the northern section of the 225kV loop around Bamako.

The African Development Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (Sefa) has approved a $870,000 preparation grant for the Rural Energy Agency (REA) to structure the Renewable Energy Investment Facility (REIF), which will provide affordable finance to private sector clean energy projects for rural communities. The grant will finance advisory support, development of operational guidelines, risk mitigation framework, fund manager identification, technical and institutional support for the REA towards the establishment of REIF and capacity building for relevant public sector institutions/agencies and private sector project developers.