Search results

Five bidders are competing for the rehabilitation of the 44MW Sélingué hydropower station on the Sankarani River, a tributary of the Niger River and of the 5.2MW Sotuba dam on the Niger River itself. The work is being financed by a CFA25bn ($40.6m) loan from the West African Development Bank.

Agence Malienne pour le Développement de l’Energie Domestique et l’Electrification Rurale (Amader) is to tender for the construction of two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totalling 2.3MWp and an associated distribution network in the south-central region of Ségou, according to a general procurement notice published on 3 April.The project, which is being developed by Amader in partnership with Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable, is being financed by loans totalling $4m from the Islamic Development Bank and $11m from its poverty alleviation arm, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, according to the notice.

Energie du Mali (EDM) invites expressions of interest by 5 May from consultants to prepare a medium-to-long-term electricity grid masterplan for Bamako and its environs. The study is part of a wider plan by the utility to enhance the city’s electricity supply, and will examine the technical and economic feasibility of transmission and distribution options to ensure reliable and efficient electricity supply through to 2040, according to a procurement notice issued on 27 March.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board has approved funding for the 33MW Segou Solar photovoltaic (PV) project, Mali’s first utility-scale solar PV power plant (AE 305/8). The project will be funded by the Program for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (Srep), part of the multi-donor Climate Investment Funds. In addition to the $25m Srep tranche, the AfDB and International Finance Corporation are each putting in $8.4m of senior debt.

Privately owned Algerian company Amimer Energie has won a contract to supply 40MW of diesel generation capacity to Energie du Mali (EDM), establishing it as a leading supplier of generators in the Sahel as well as in Algeria. On 20 February, Amimer chairman and chief executive Amar Boukheddami and his EDM counterpart Dramane Coulibaly signed the $70m deal to install 20MW plants in Kati, 15km north-west of Bamako, and the capital’s Dar Salam district.

Turkey’s Aksa Enerji Uretim has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Electricité du Mali (EdM) to build a 40MW heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant in Bamako, the company announced on 21 November. The PPA includes a three-year guaranteed electricity sales term, based on a euro-linked price, and EdM is providing land, fuel, licences and permits for the project, which is expected to produce up to 250,000MWh/yr. Aksa intends to use existing equipment for the project, and construction is anticipated to take five months.

The Agence Malienne pour le Développement de l’Energie Domestique et de l’Electrification Rurale (Amader) has invited bids for the supply, installation and commissioning of hybrid solar-diesel plants in six rural locations. The project is financed by a loan from the World Bank’s International Development Agency and a grant from the Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries Programme. The plants will be installed at Kéléya, Loulouni, Garalo, Mafelé, Fourou and Yorobougoula. Bids were due by 23 November.

Kenié Energie Renouvelable, a subsidiary of France’s Eranove Group, has invited prequalification bids by 30 November for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Kenié hydropower project on the Niger River. Kenié Energie, in which IFC InfraVentures holds a stake, tendered unsuccessfully for an EPC contractor for the project last November. The project, to be located 35km east of Bamako, will comprise a power plant with an installed capacity of 42MW, a 1.1km-long weir on the Niger; a 2km headrace canal; a 3km tailrace channel, a power evacuation system and other related works.

France’s Ingerop is overseeing rehabilitation work at the Selingue and Sotuba hydropower stations, which should be fully operational by 2019. The 46.24MW Selingue hydropower station was built in 1981 at a site 130km south of Bamako on the Sarankani River, a tributary of the Niger River. Ingerop is supervising the reassembly of one of four Voith 11.56MW Kaplan turbines, which was previously rehabilitated by another engineering firm but Ingerop detected problems that needed further checks.

The Ministry of Energy and Water, Electricité du Mali and project company Ségou Solaire SA signed a 25-year power purchase agreement and other contracts on 9 July for a 33MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Ségou. Ségou Solaire is 50% owned by Norway’s Scatec Solar, 32.5% by the World Bank’s IFC InfraVentures and 17.5% by local project development company Africa Power 1. The project is an important milestone for Mali, where a breakthrough ceasefire agreement between the government and the Coalition of Azawad Movements was signed in June after fighting resumed early this year.

Paris-based Eranove signed a 30-year concession agreement on 18 June to finance, build and operate a 42MW hydropower plant on the Niger River. The Kenié project at Buguinéda, 35km east of Bamako, will be operated by a new Eranove subsidiary, Kenié Energie Renouvelable, owned 80% by Eranove and 20% by IFC InfraVentures. Eranove said construction would begin in 2016, and the plant would be commissioned in 2020. The project represents Eranove’s first foray into Mali, but the company is active elsewhere in West Africa.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) announced on 13 June the signing of a $9m loan agreement with the government of Mali towards the financing of hybrid solar/diesel mini-grids for rural villages. The project will supply electricity to 123,000 people in 30 villages and reduce the cost of electricity in a country where power is mainly generated using diesel. The project is being funded as part of the second cycle of the ADFD/Irena Project Facility, which has provided concessionary loans to six renewable energy projects totalling 21MW across the world.

Oil exploration in northern Mali was already on hold before the 2012 coup because of the security situation. While activity remains largely suspended, the government has attracted interest in the minerals and hydrocarbons potential from Qatar. “There are still pockets of resistance of certain armed groups in northern Mali. Security isn’t yet restored, we must admit,” said minister for investment promotion and private enterprise Moustapha Ben Barka. But the government is looking to the future, and the minister said he hoped Mali could begin producing oil within five years.

A Malian government delegation met donors at the European Commission in Brussels on 5 February to assess progress made since a conference on 15 May 2013 at which donors pledged €3.25bn ($4.4bn) to finance a recovery plan. Islamist fighters seized control of northern Mali in 2012 following a coup in Bamako. They were driven back by French military intervention, and civilian rule was re-established in mid-2013, but a truce with Tuareg separatists is fragile and security remains an issue in the north.

In mid-December six judges and judicial officers were charged and taken into custody in an investigation into corruption. “In the context of the fight against corruption and financial crime triggered by the Malian government, six judges and judicial officers were charged with forgery, fraud and extortion,” a justice ministry official told the Agence France-Presse news agency. In late November, new President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta restated his commitment to tackling corruption and impunity. Before his election following a second round of voting in August, Keïta promised “zero tolerance” of corruption