Search results

ExxonMobil Corporation has relinquished its interest in Ghana’s Deepwater Cape Three Points (DWCTP) Block – until recently seen as highly promising offshore acreage, on-trend with the US major’s big Atlantic play in Guyana – and entered talks to sell its upstream and midstream assets in Chad and Cameroon, where more than a decade ago development of the Chad-Cameroon export pipeline was a major issue in development policy circles.

When most African governments struggle to fund even the most essential projects, costly new technologies may seem a luxury. But rethinking how they can be applied to energy networks can be a valuable exercise for policy-makers and investors: ‘disruptive technology’ can have far-reaching benefits, or prove a red herring for cash-strapped economies.

New financing for West Africa-focused hybrid solar PV project developer Daystar Power underlines the extent that commercial and industrial (C&I) markets are gaining traction with development finance institutions (DFIs) and others. Daystar Power has completed a $38m series B funding round led by Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries and including French impact infrastructure fund Stoa, French DFI Proparco – backed by a guarantee from the European Union under the African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility (ARE Scale-Up) – and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Eleqtra and Engie’s 50MW Windstar wind farm is anticipated to reach financial close in Q2 2022, Eleqtra regional manager for West Africa Richard Avery told African Energy on 6 May.

Commercial and industrial (C&I) solar company Starsight Energy has reported 74% growth in revenues in 2020, underlining the apparent differing fortunes for off-grid solar companies, as solar home system (SHS) providers appear to have struggled more than C&I companies.

The first phase of the 13MWp Kaleo solar PV plant will start commercial operations by June, Isabel Makhoul of German development bank KfW told African Energy. The plant is being developed as part of the Volta River Authority's (VRA) project, launched in February 2020 to develop solar in the Upper West region, which also comprises the Lawra solar PV plant, some 80km away.

Bui Power Authority (BPA) has commissioned the first 22.25MWp of the 250MWp Bui Solar PV farm under development beside the Bui hydropower dam. As Ghana moves ahead with its plans to increase on-grid renewables in the  solar energy mix, the 13MWp first phase of the 24MWp Kaleo PV farm will be commissioned in June.

Tema LNG is up and running with the first cargo scheduled for end-May, sparking a renewed debate over Ghana’s gas supply options, writes Dan Marks.

The UK’s Portsmouth Sustainable Energy & Climate Change Centre (Psecc) has confirmed to African Energy that its planned 20MWp Simbrofo solar PV plant development in Ghana has been abandoned. Germany’s Alpin Sun was to act as engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and the plant was intended to be supported by the UK’s Renewable Energy Performance Platform.

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.

The Government of Ghana (GoG) is under fire as details emerge of a costly arbitral ruling over an emergency purchase agreement (EPA) signed with Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which in 2015 procured two GE LM 6000 combined cycle power plants in Italy to supply 107MW at Aboadze.

As African Energy editor Thalia Griffiths leaves to explore new opportunities, colleagues asked for her take on developments after 23 years leading the publication. For all the tragedies like the current Ethiopian conflict, she sees real hope for a better future on a continent where, in many places, governance has improved and previously marginalised populations are becoming empowered to enact positive change.

Tullow Oil has brought back the Maersk Venturer drillship for its planned development drilling at the TEN and Jubilee fields, with a conditional letter of award announced on 4 February. Maersk Drilling said the contract would last around four years with an expected start in Q2 2021 and an estimated value of $370m. The drillship has been warm-stacked in Las Palmas since finishing a drilling campaign in Ghana for Tullow in mid-2020.

Plastics manufacturer Miniplast Ltd has begun commercial operations at a 700kWp grid-tied solar PV plant developed and built by Stella Futura at Spintex Industrial Area in Accra. The plant is funded by Empower New Energy, the owner and asset manager, which sells power to Miniplast through a 20-year power supply agreement. 

The arrival of a floating regasification unit at Tema is the final piece in the jigsaw for sub-Saharan Africa’s first offshore LNG import project. Long-awaited LNG imports are intended to reduce the cost of gas while stabilising supply in the east of the country, writes Dan Marks