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Independent energy trader BB Energy said it intends to start trading solar-generated electricity on the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) by end-2023.

Nigeria’s Starsight Energy and South Africa’s SolarAfrica have announced plans to merge in a deal which, if approved by regulators, will join two of Africa’s largest commercial and industrial (C&I) renewable power developers into a pan-continental player with a portfolio of over 220MW of operated and signed generation capacity.

Japan’s pledge to invest some $30bn in Africa over the next three years has underlined the Asian economic giant’s commitment to rapidly advance its relations, as well as to expand its presence, on a continent where Tokyo’s involvement has too often lagged behind other big nations.

The construction phase of a 200MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project for mining and chemicals firm Tronox Holdings is set to begin after local independent power producer (IPP) Sola Group and African Rainbow Energy (Are) reached financial close on 9 September.  The facility has been described as the first utility-scale renewable energy (RE) captive power project in South Africa.

Large renewable procurement in South Africa and ambitious hydrogen production plans in Egypt are expected to bring huge amounts of privately-owned, utility-scale solar capacity on line in the next three years. Meanwhile commercial and industrial solar remains a high growth potential market, according to analysis of  new data from the African Energy Live Data platform.

An early September judgement confirming the Eastern Cape High Court’s rejection of Shell’s attempt to conduct seismic surveys along South Africa’s eastern coast will leave the government – and oil companies – with plenty of food for thought, as South Africa and many other countries look to produce more hydrocarbons in sensitive environments, James Gavin writes.

Schools have joined an increasing number of electricity users turning to alternatives to state utility Eskom as the energy crisis continues to take its toll in South Africa. As many as 41 schools in Western Cape province, with a combined capacity of 25.87MW, have applied to the Ministry of Education for connection to distributed solar PV systems.

Growthpoint Properties continue its plan to install 20MW of solar capacity at properties across South Africa.

Mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe plans to create a new state-owned company – working title Generation 2 – to redevelop three of state utility Eskom’s coal-fired plants by converting them into gas-to-power units.

The addition of Senegal to the list of countries negotiating a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 counterparties is an important diplomatic achievement for those countries in the developed world striving to keep the concept of just transition alive. It would have been difficult for the just transition concept to maintain its claims to moral credibility – that it is a viable route to justice in climate finance – if it could not find even one more African partner to sign up for a JETP.

More information has emerged about the mix of finance that will support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). An official source from a G7 country told African Energy “there is an amount of grant and technical assistance. It is significant but not enormous.”

South African coal miner Seriti Resources has signed a deal to acquire a 51% stake in renewable energy firm Windlab Africa as part of its efforts to diversify into renewables

The Enel Green Power South Africa operated Soetwater wind farm in the Northern Cape is now supplying 147MW to the national grid after the start of commercial operations was announced on 21 July.

Among the most eye-catching parts of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech on 25 July was a commitment to remove the threshold above which a generation licence is required. African Energy takes a look at the implications of the announcement.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said  that Eskom will start to buy power through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). This development could have important repercussions for pricing dynamics on the SAPP market, changing the environment significantly for active members, as well as for independent power producers (IPPs) interested in selling to the pool.