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With drilling under way at the Kingfisher development, plus new production sharing agreements and a third bid round mooted for May, Uganda expects considerable progress this year in its upstream and in building its much-anticipated pipeline and refinery infrastructure – although experts warn that potentially daunting challenges remain, writes James Gavin.

Energy leasing firm Solarise Africa (Solarise) has secured debt finance from a group of investors led by the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI), which it will use to grow its commercial and industrial (C&I) business in Africa.

After a lengthy delay, the first two units of the 600MW Karuma hydroelectric power plant are earmarked for commissioning in December. The plant, which was initially scheduled to come online in 2019, has been delayed numerous times due to technical defects, flooding, disruptions from Covid-19 and land acquisition issues for the associated interconnection and transmission elements of the project.

The Ugandan government is considering a public-private partnership (PPP) model for electricity distribution company Umeme, when the group’s current concession runs out in March 2025, according to well-placed industry sources speaking at African Energy's AIX: Power and Renewables 2022 event in London on 16-17 November.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank)’s early October decision to commit $200m to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) provided a valuable slug of support to a project that has become increasingly toxic to western banks and insurers.

TotalEnergies is to face a group of environmental pressure groups in a French court on 7 December, in a dispute over the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) and Tilenga projects in Uganda and Tanzania.

Uganda is planning an oil licensing round in 2023, as it seeks to develop its petroleum sector, mineral development and energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu told an oil and gas conference in Kampala on 27 September. African Energy examines this news and provides a roundup of other bid rounds across Africa.

Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have awarded a consultancy contract to Aecom for a power interconnection line between the two countries.

Dutch development finance institution FMO has signed a $15m senior loan for African and India-focused off-grid provider D.Light Design, with $5m from the Building Prospects envelope and a $10m FMO-A loan. The majority of the loan is denominated in local currency, comprising Nigerian naira and Kenyan shillings.

Mini-grid financing facility CrossBoundary Energy Access has raised a $25m senior debt facility. CrossBoundary is looking to raise $150m in total to finance a portfolio of mini-grids primarily in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia.

The Ugandan government has signed an agreement with Gridworks that will see the British government-owned developer and financier provide up to $90m of equity funding to upgrade four key substations. A key goal of the upgrades is to increase the grid’s ability to supply large industrial offtakers and export power to Kenya and DR Congo. Gridworks said the project was “one of the only privately financed” transmission developments in sub-Saharan Africa so far.

While advocacy groups are posing questions about the funding of the Lake Albert upstream scheme – and putting pressure on banks not to participate  – operator TotalEnergies on 9 June told African Energy that project financing for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) was being provided by shareholder equity and external debt, which is “being arranged with interested international financial institutions”.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) project has emerged as an important element in French NGO Reclaim Finance (RF)’s campaign against the financing of oil and gas projects. RF campaign manager Guillaume Pottier told African Energy that the group was aiming “to ensure financial institutions no longer directly or indirectly support the development of new oil and gas”.

Serengeti Energy has secured a $10.6m, 17-year term loan from the Private Infrastructure Development Group’s Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) for the 7.8MW Nyamwamba II run-of-river hydroelectric power (HEP) plant.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline has boosted regional energy ambitions and is poised to swell the treasuries of Tanzania and Uganda, but while the project’s supporters laud its potential economic and developmental benefits it has also ignited a fierce debate over hydrocarbons financing and how deals are structured in the energy transition age.