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Côte d’Ivoire state power company CI-Energies has finally launched a tender to build a 20MWp floating solar power plant and associated transmission network on the Kossou dam in Yamoussoukro autonomous district.

While many headlines have focused on Eni’s energy transition moves, the Italian major is also shoring up its upstream positions around the continent.

The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has asked US firms to submit proposals for a feasibility study for the 225kV Côte d’Ivoire-Liberia transmission interconnection reinforcement project. The agency has set a deadline of 26 January for submissions for the study into a 650km transmission line from San Pedro in Côte d’Ivoire to Buchanan in Liberia – plus associated substation and distribution equipment.

Norfund has invested €10m ($11.6m) equity in solar home system (SHS) distributor Baobab+, which is active in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal, where it has supplied some 220,000 households.

Construction of the Korhogo solar PV plant is expected to begin in Q2 2022, developer Madagascar-based Groupe Filatex chief operating officer George Conde told African Energy.

Eni’s major oil discovery in offshore Block CI-101, announced on 1 September, is a rare point of optimism for the Ivorian upstream sector, with estimates it could hold up to 2bn barrels of oil, potentially transforming the country’s production profile to one more akin to neighbour Ghana.

 Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Mines, Oil and Energy and Côte d’Ivoire Energies (CI Energies) on 23 June launched a request for prequalification (RfQ) for the design, financing, construction and operation of two grid-connected solar PV plants with combined capacity of at least 60MWp. The plants will be located at Laboa and Touba in the western Bafing region.

French official private sector support agency Proparco and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) have closed a €178m ($212m) funding package for the Biovea project, which they describe as Africa’s first biomass power plant with grid injection.

Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Mines, Oil and Energy and Côte d’Ivoire Energies (CI Energies) on 23 June launched a request for prequalification (RfQ) for two grid-connected solar PV plants with combined capacity of at least 60MWp

Tullow Oil moved back into the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 250 index in early March, after its share price strengthened in line with a higher oil price and amid optimism about its debt. Tullow’s restoration to the index follows the cancellation of smart meter installer Calisen’s listing after it was taken private. Tullow was dropped from the FTSE 250 in March 2020, when its shares were suffering from a combination of a sharply lower oil price and the company’s own woes.

Cairn Energy has taken over operatorship of onshore blocks CI-301 and CI-302 following the withdrawal of Tullow Oil. The Cairn-Tullow joint venture has pulled out of blocks CI-518, CI-519, CI-521 and CI-522 with effect from end-December 2020, while Tullow remains as operator of CI-520, in the area east of Abidjan around Grand-Bassam, with Cairn as a partner. Cairn said the 2021 work programme for blocks CI-301 and CI-302 was focused on completing a planned 2D seismic acquisition programme, once it is safe to do so.

A cabinet meeting on 30 September adopted a decree declaring the 2,200 hectares of land earmarked for the development of the Gribo Popoli hydropower plant on the Sassandra River and its infrastructure to be of public utility, and setting out the compensation to be paid to affected populations. The 112MW hydro scheme, with annual energy production of 580GWh, is being built by Sinohydro at a site 10km downstream from the Soubré dam, which was also built by the Chinese company.

After considerable speculation that the government might seek a new concessionaire or even nationalise the power utility, the Ivorian cabinet on 30 September approved a new concession agreement for Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE), renewing the existing agreement which expires at the end of October.

Sahara to develop LPG storage Sahara Energy Logistics has signed a joint-venture agreement with Petroci for the construction of a 12,000 tonne LPG storage facility. Sahara said the $43m project would be executed in two phases, with commissioning scheduled for November 2021 and October 2022 respectively.

Rassemblement des Houphouëtistes pour la Démocratie et la Paix (RHDP) candidate Amadou Gon Coulibaly’s death on 8 July leaves President Alassane Dramane Ouattara (ADO) searching for an alternative, either to replace himself as head of state or as a potentially very powerful vice-president if he stands.Ouattara’s leading opponent, Henri Konan Bédié, also has a big call to make in naming his Parti Démocratique de la Côte d’Ivoire (PDCI) running mate.