Search results

In June 2015, France’s Veolia signed a four-year contract worth €11.3m to manage Electricité de Guinée (EDG). There have been demonstrations against installation of prepaid meters in Kaloum, the business and administrative centre of Conakry, which has 14,000 EDG clients. EDG agents in the Sandervaliah district were chased away by gangs of youths and a protest march was organised. Installation of prepaid meters, supplied by Togolese company Togo Assistance Services, forms part of the donor-funded Electricity Sector Efficiency Improvement Project. Some $15m has already been released for the project, part of which has funded the rehabilitation of about 45km of underground distribution cables in Kaloum, which date back to French colonial rule.

The Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) has invited bids for the design, supply, construction and commissioning of the 300MW Koukoutamba dam on the Bafing River. The project will comprise an 86-metre-high dam with a central section in roller-compacted concrete, a power house with four 73.5MW Francis turbines, two 225kV transmission lines of 465km and 250km, and a 150km access road from Labé. Bids are due by 16 June. A site visit will take place on 30 April-1 May, followed by a bidders’ meeting in Conakry on 4-5 May. Bidders are invited to submit proposals for financing of the project.

Development of Guinea’s mineral resources has long been hampered by a lack of infrastructure, but the government is keen to harness donor support for post-Ebola recovery to attract large-scale investment. Guernsey-based Alufer Mining signed a mining convention for the Bel Air bauxite mining project on 1 February, the first to be completed under Guinea’s new mining code. The Bel Air deposit is just 15km from the coast, which minimises the infrastructure required. Alufer, part of Pella Resources Group, eventually plans to develop the higher grade Labé deposit in central Guinea, but this would require a 200km railway to evacuate the bauxite.

China International Water & Electric Corporation (CWE) announced on 2 February the signing of an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and Ministry of Finance for the 450MW Souapiti dam and hydropower plant on the Konkoure River. The $1.38bn contract is expected to be completed in 58 months and will involve the construction of a roller-compacted concrete dam with a maximum height of 116.5 metres and length of 1,148 metres, as well as a power plant with a design installed capacity of 450MW and average annual output of 1.9TWh.

Hyperdynamics Corporation has filed legal actions against its partners Tullow Oil and Dana Petroleum in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas and before the American Arbitration Association over what it says is their failure to prepare for a well due by September.

The Islamic Development Bank is providing the government with $56m to finance the second phase of a project to rehabilitate and extend the electricity network in Conakry. Work will be carried out in the Matam, Matoto and Lansanayah districts, and Electricité de Guinée intends to use some of the funds to supervise the work. Tenders will be issued over the coming months, with contracts announced as they become available.

The Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) has invited expressions of interest by 26 November to carry out separate studies for the development of two hydropower projects on the Bafing River and a feasibility study for three micro-hydropower plants in the Senegal River Basin, both in Guinea.

Kosmos Energy has licensed blocks 6 and 11 in the São Tomé & Príncipe (STP) Exclusive Economic Zone and is waiting on the award of blocks LB-6 and LB-7 in Liberia, as it seeks low-cost new opportunities offshore West Africa. Block 11 was acquired from ERHC Energy, the others were unlicensed. Kosmos said the STP acquisition marked a strategic re-entry into the Gulf of Guinea/Transform Margin. “It’s an area we know very well and which provides an opportunity to pursue the Cretaceous theme that was successful for us in Ghana with the discovery of the Jubilee field,” said a spokesman.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Hyperdynamics $75,000 over its management of public relations and lobbying payments in Guinea. The company agreed to pay the fine without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, and says it has incurred $12.7m in legal and other professional fees during the investigation. In May, the US Department of Justice closed its investigation into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) without bringing charges against the company.

President Alpha Condé on 28 September formally inaugurated the 240MW Kaléta dam, whose first turbine started generating power in May. The ceremony, attended by Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou and his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou Nguesso, took place less than two weeks before Guinea’s 11 October presidential election, in which Condé is seeking a second five-year term. Improved power supplies were one of his main campaign pledges in 2010, but efforts to improve the situation have run into a number of challenges.

Veolia’s management contract with Electricité de Guinée (EdG) revives hopes for an end to the power supply problems that have dogged Guinea for decades. But in the process, the French company will have to tackle one of the country’s biggest systems of fraud and embezzlement.President Alpha Condé, who makes no secret of his lack of confidence in Guineans’ ability to manage strategic sectors, was closely involved in negotiation of the contract, whose success is important both for energy-starved Guineans and for his chances of re-election in October

A World Bank-backed management services contract awarded to Veolia in Guinea represents a new model for running utilities, the French water and electricity giant’s chairman and chief executive for Africa and the Middle East Patrice Fonlladosa has told African Energy. Under a contract drafted with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), senior Veolia executives will take over national utility Electricité de Guinée (EdG)’s management. Although Veolia intends to work closely with local staff, “ultimate responsibility for decisions at EdG will rest with the nominated manager”, Fonlladosa said on 6 July: “This is quite unique. I have never experienced it in Africa.”

The government has signed a four-year contract worth €11.3m ($12.6m) with Veolia Africa to provide management services to national utility Electricité de Guinée (EdG). Veolia Africa will be supported by experts from another Veolia subsidiary, consulting engineer Seureca, the French company told African Energy. The consortium will work to improve the management of facilities and the efficiency of the energy distribution network while overseeing the expansion of the grid. Emphasis will be placed on customer relationship management, human resource management, procurement and inventory management, technical performance and better planning of operations and maintenance activities.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has closed its investigation into Hyperdynamics Corporation concerning possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “Based upon the information known to the department at this time we have closed our inquiry into this matter. If we obtain additional information or evidence in the future regarding this matter, we may reopen our inquiry,” the DoJ said in a letter to the company’s lawyers. The DoJ issued a subpoena in September 2013 asking Hyperdynamics to produce documents relating to its activities in Guinea.

A company replacing Aggreko to provide 135MW of temporary power is linked to a local businessman and not to US interests as officials originally indicated (AE 296/8). A source at the energy ministry told African Energy that K Energy SA was registered by the businessman and honorary consul of South Korea in Guinea, Ibrahima Kassus Dioubaté. K Energy was established on 27 May 2014 and registered at investment agency Agence de Promotion des Investissements Privés on 28 May 2014. “Kassus has strong support within the presidency. He has been received several times by President Alpha Condé himself. It is he who introduced the company here, inspired by the Aggreko model,” one official told African Energy.