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With domestic and regional power demand set to soar, Mozambique has set up its first public-private partnership to develop the giant Mphanda Nkuwa dam. Power planners are also looking to coal and gas reserves, but big ticket hydro and transmission projects still take centre stage, write David Slater and Dan Marks

As the pace of new projects finally starts to pick up, administrative delays at the Department of Energy mean the deadline for renewable energy bidders to reach financial close has been moved back, writes Dan Marks

London Stock Exchange-listed Aggreko Plc has announced that with big South African empowerment player Shanduka Group (its partner since 2006) it is to build a gas-fired power plant on the Gigawatt Mozambique site to supply 92MW to Eskom and 15MW to Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM).

Lower prices and more generous development packages were evident in South Africa’s second renewable IPP bid round, and developers are eyeing more projects in REIPPP3 and other government bid rounds

PetroSA has concluded a joint study agreement (JSA) with China’s Sinopec, which could give new impetus to its plan for a refinery in the Eastern Cape

Contracts must be concluded to show that renewable energy (RE) schemes are more than hot air, African Energy wrote last year. More solar and wind projects were being tendered in Morocco and South Africa’s new-found enthusiasm for RE would be confirmed if the much-anticipated first round of its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPP) was a success (AE 215/24).

ALGERIA: Siemens maintenance contract at Hassi R’Mel; EGYPT: Alstom substation contract; RWANDA/DR CONGO: Ruzizi road contract relaunched; SOUTH AFRICA: O&M contract for Wärtsilä

NAMIBIA: Eco Atlantic lists in Windhoek; SOUTH AFRICA: Ex-Burren team win exploration right

ONE: New Agadir and Tan Tan substations; SOUTH AFRICA: PV plant for Coega; SOUTH AFRICA: CSP suppliers sought

There was a strong response to the government’s request for information (RFI) for the development or importation of conventional power generation capacity

BNP Paribas has beaten off competition from Crédit Agricole and Standard Chartered to win the mandate to advise Nigeria LNG Ltd (NLNG) subsidiary Bonny Gas Transport (BGT) on an estimated $1bn financing package to purchase six new LNG carriers; Standard & Poor’s has revised Eskom’s credit outlook from stable to negative, and affirmed the state power utility’s BBB+ long-term rating; London Stock Exchange-listed Ophir Energy has sold $240m of new shares to part‐finance its expanded 2012-13 exploration programme

CIC Energy Corporation on 27 March announced it had completed a private placement with Vitol Energy (Bermuda), raising C$10m, giving Vitol 9.1% of CIC’s issued common shares; Eskom Holdings has invited bids by 1 May for the design, supply and installation of its much-anticipated 100MW Central Receiver Concentrating Solar Power Plant at Upington; The City of Johannesburg plans to spend over R100bn ($13.2bn) in the next decade on economic and social infrastructure; In a 23 March statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa-incorporated, Namibia-focused Southern Electricity Company (SELCo) reported a loss of R0.0393/share and headline loss of R0.0416/share; Tata Power Company was advised by AZB & Partners (led by Shameek Chaudhuri with Manan Mehta) in creating its new electricity development joint venture, Cennergi, with major South African player Exxaro Resources

Following the remarkable string of results enjoyed by exploration companies down the East African coast (see Upstream oil and gas), and success in exploiting analogues between South America and West Africa, deep offshore specialists are attempting to open up a potentially lucrative ‘Falklands Islands-style’ play in South African waters

Eskom faces another electricity supply crunch in 2012-13; A joint venture between Firestone Energy and Sekoko Coal has signed a memorandum of understanding with state utility Eskom; South Sudan is looking to import 50-100MW from Ethiopia in “two or three years”; South Africa’s Conlog (Pty) Ltd has won a E291,487 ($388,000) contract for meters and other equipment; Documents for a treaty covering the financing, construction, operation and development of electricity interconnections linking Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were signed during a meeting of energy ministers on 5 March; Senior executives are under pressure at state utility Zesa Holdings after awarding themselves increases in their allowances of up to 75%, backdated to 2009

As the pace of South African renewables development finally picks up, ABB has signed an agreement with FG Emvelo to develop concentrating solar power (CSP) plants at Karoshoek Solar Valley; The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) is seeking bids for the review of proposed designs for maintenance work at the Kariba dam complex