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Dutch development finance institution FMO has signed a $15m senior loan for African and India-focused off-grid provider D.Light Design, with $5m from the Building Prospects envelope and a $10m FMO-A loan. The majority of the loan is denominated in local currency, comprising Nigerian naira and Kenyan shillings.

Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) is investigating a number of executives at Kenya Power and Lighting Company (Kenya Power) for alleged corruption.

Mini-grid financing facility CrossBoundary Energy Access has raised a $25m senior debt facility. CrossBoundary is looking to raise $150m in total to finance a portfolio of mini-grids primarily in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia.

The Ugandan government has signed an agreement with Gridworks that will see the British government-owned developer and financier provide up to $90m of equity funding to upgrade four key substations. A key goal of the upgrades is to increase the grid’s ability to supply large industrial offtakers and export power to Kenya and DR Congo. Gridworks said the project was “one of the only privately financed” transmission developments in sub-Saharan Africa so far.

Kenyan biomass company Tamuwa plans to launch a credit exchange platform in Q4 2022 after receiving a $100,000 grant from crypto currency funder The HBAR Foundation.

London (LSE)-, Irish- and Ghana Stock Exchange-listed Tullow Oil’s merger with Capricorn Energy (ex-Cairn Energy) brings together two FTSE250 independent exploration and production companies to create an Africa-focused entity with a bigger portfolio and longer pockets. Capricorn’s balance sheet complements Tullow’s regional depth, but questions remain over who gains most from the merger and the deals promised to follow.

Debt finance has been lined up to cover 75% of the cost of a planned geothermal exploration programme by renewable energy company Akiira Geothermal at the Naivasha steam fields in Akiira Valley.

Sun King – the rebranded Greenlight Planet – has raised $260m in a funding round. The series D round attracted major private institutional investors. The fundraising was seen by some observers as a vote of confidence in the solar home system industry, which has suffered negative press in recent months over alleged sharp business practices and continues to face questions about the sustainability of business models.

David Ngaira has taken over as chairman of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco), succeeding Joe Mutambu. Ngaira is expected to oversee the commissioning of a number of new transmission lines.

The European Union-funded Electrification Finance Initiative (EDFI ElectriFI) has extended a $3.1m loan to German C&I solar power provider Redavia to enable it to expand its business in Ghana and Kenya.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and its partners are planning to create what they call the world’s largest mini-grid market in Nigeria, using the new Leveraging Energy Access Finance (Leaf) financing model to support the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)’s Nigeria Electrification Programme (NEP).

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has announced that  it has finished construction work on the 83MW Olkaria I unit VI and will now begin reliability tests.

Off-grid energy company Bboxx is launching a cheaper product range to target poorer customers, amid a fall in incomes across Africa for the first time in a decade and supply chain issues with China.

Italian major Eni has declined to comment on speculation that the Milma-1 exploration well in the Lamu Basin has not yielded any hydrocarbons. If the ultra-deep-water wildcat well had been successful, it would have opened up a new East African basin for crude production.

Tullow Oil is continuing with talks to bring in a strategic partner for its South Lokichar oil development in Kenya, as the authorities in Nairobi move closer to approving a revised field development plan (FDP) submitted in late 2021.