Search results

A huge rush is under way to tackle governance issues at Kenya Power and address the cost of energy from IPPs ahead of President Kenyatta’s Christmas Day deadline for implementing recommendations of the Presidential Taskforce’s PPA review, writes Dan Marks

The pledge by China’s President Xi Jinping to end state financing of overseas coal projects – with huge ramifications for several coal-producing and importing countries – set off a lively debate about its possible ramifications. Fears about the consequence for Africa may have been overstated, according to one industry figure who responded to African Energy’s article.

Solar products company Greenlight Planet Kenya has secured a Kenyan shilling-denominated financing facility worth $75m from a group of commercial banks and development finance institutions – Standard Bank Group, Citi, CDC Group and Norfund – it was announced on 26 October.

Kenya has vowed not to abide by an International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement issued on 12 October that found in favour of Somalia’s claim to a contested sea area covering more than 100,000km2 and which contains oil and gas reserves.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered that the recommendations made by the taskforce set up to review power purchase agreements (PPAs) be implemented by end-December. This includes the renegotiation of active PPAs and a raft of measures to tackle the performance of beleaguered utility Kenya Power, with the goal of reducing electricity costs by a third.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is making a new push to convince governments around Africa to support wind, with the launch of the Africa WindPower initiative on 30 September. The new body is backed by private developers and equipment suppliers such as GE Renewable Energy, Siemens Gamesa, Enel Green Power and EDF Renewables and supported by GET Invest, a European programme to promote renewable energy in developing countries.

Mombassa-based independent fuel retailer East African Gas Oil (Eagol) plans to increase the number of its outlets in Kenya from six to 15 over the coming three years, its chief executive Abdi Ali told the local Business Daily on 12 October.

Developers of small hydropower (SHP) projects in East Africa are facing greater challenges in raising finance for their schemes, as a result of weak national grids and a shift away from take-or-pay arrangements by offtakers, according to one industry figure.

A presidential taskforce report which recommended that PPAs be redrawn has been greeted with resignation by stakeholders who have been ground down by years of dithering. Industry players are now left hoping the government will adopt a realistic outlook in renegotiations, writes Dan Marks

Tullow Oil’s redesigned South Lokichar development project will boost prospective oil flows while adding to the project’s already prodigious cost, writes James Gavin

Geneva-headquartered commodities trader Montfort Group has acquired Matola Terminal de Armazenamento de Petróleos’s oil product storage facility in the Mozambican port of Matola. The unit, with 58,000m3-plus of clean product storage capacity, will be owned, developed and operated in partnership with Malaysia-based trading company Energi Asia.

A rarity until a few years ago, battery and renewable power plants have more recently outcompeted fossil fuel projects without subsidy in several African markets. The AIX: Financing Battery Storage meeting heard about the extent Bess projects are making headway, despite financiers’ reservations.

The developers of the newly-commissioned 100MW Kipeto wind power plant have said they will start installing a back-up battery storage unit next year to stabilise electricity supply into the national grid.

East Africa’s largest economy is keen to stay in the good books of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group, but citizens are increasingly unhappy with rising taxation on fuels as Kenya wrestles with its debt burden, writes Kimemia Mugo in Nairobi.

The 11MWp solar PV plant at the Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Butere, Kakamega county will be commissioned in September, a spokesman told African Energy.