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Less than a fortnight after a court ruling that went against Eni, the Italian major announced on 6 July a significant oil discovery on the Eban exploration prospect in CTP Block 4, offshore Ghana. Eni said preliminary estimates place the potential of the Eban–Akoma complex between 500m-700m barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place.

The need to preserve land was one of the reasons put forward by Bui Power Authority deputy chief executive Anthony Osafo-Kissi for the development of the continent’s first floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) and co-located solar plant. A 1MW pilot project on the Bui reservoir was commissioned in Q1 2021, along with the first 50MWp tranche of an eventual 250MWp ground-mounted scheme beside the dam.

Ghana’s reputation as a donor/investor darling has taken many knocks, and more court battles are expected as international arbitration beckons in the battle between Eni and its local partner, writes James Gavin.

The Ghanaian government’s position in the offshore unitisation dispute is that Eni’s Sankofa and Springfield’s Afina fields have identical reservoir and fluid characterises. Springfield was awarded operatorship of the WCTP Block 2 in 2016, in its first upstream operation having previously been focused on oilfield services and fuel distribution and trading.

The Commercial Court in London has ruled that the Ghanaian government could not challenge an arbitration award made against it as its appeal had come too late. The arbitration was brought by Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which procured two GE LM 6000 combined cycle power plants in Italy to be installed in Aboadze under an emergency purchase agreement.

Former Tullow Oil chief executive Paul McDade has fashioned a new company to take advantage of the changing landscape in the continent’s oil and gas sector, he tells James Gavin.

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.

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.

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.

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.