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Aksa Enerji sees opportunities in African GTP markets for the conversion of open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plants to combined cycle (CCGT). In March it was gazetted that Aksa had been awarded a four-year provisional independent power producer (IPP) licence by the Republic of Congo government, which may indicate the Turkish firm will develop its own IPPs too.

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.

It is more than a whisper: international institutions and private equity (PE) investors are again exploring major hydroelectric power (HEP) deals, after years during which environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns made big dams a problematic issue for development finance institutions (DFI) and other potential investors.

As the post-Kabila Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) slowly opens up to investment, a new cast of characters is emerging with the promise of helping to make up the country’s dramatic infrastructure shortfalls.

UK-based climate fund manager Camco Clean Energy has partnered with Energy Peace Partners (EPP) to manage the Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-Rec) Aggregation Fund.

The DR Congo government has confirmed a deal with consultants to evaluate the potential of onshore and offshore sedimentary basins – including the prospective Albertine Graben, Lake Kivu Graben and Tanganyika Graben areas – as it looks to attract international oil companies (IOCs) ahead of a licensing round due to be launched in late July.

Major trading houses are among those approaching potentially hugely lucrative cobalt and other energy transition plays in Democratic Republic of Congo with an eye to ESG concerns, as international scrutiny of mining practises – and especially the huge involvement of artisanal miners – intensifies as the world looks for inputs into its new electric vehicles and batteries, write Marc Howard and AE staff.

Commodity giant Glencore has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay the US authorities almost $1.2bn to end investigations into bribery and market manipulation. The settlement was part of a coordinated resolution with criminal and civil authorities in the US, UK, and Brazil announced on 24 May.

Surging prices for wheat, oil and other commodities are placing strain on individuals, businesses and governments, with an increasing number of sub-Saharan countries now classed as ‘debt-stressed’. Defaults may be avoided this year, but ‘food riots’ could flare up. Yet commodity exporters may profit as the energy transition and geopolitical shifts present opportunities for everything from natural gas to transition minerals, writes Marc Howard, with African Energy staff.

As African countries seek to use their resources more productively, cobalt may be a prime example of a natural resource, now only exported as a raw material, that could spur industrialisation. But much depends on whether weak governments in host countries can manage such a transition.

The World Bank Group has debarred two hydroelectric power equipment arms of Voith Hydro Holding, for what it called collusive and corrupt practices connected to projects in Pakistan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A plan by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to auction 16 oil and gas blocks has attracted opposition from environmental groups, who accuse President Félix Tshisekedi’s government of threatening a sensitive ecosystem.

Andritz's refurbishment of the Mwadingusha hydroelectric power (HEP) plant in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s Katanga province shows the potential for mobilising anchor mining clients to deliver wider power supply in DRC’s under-performing electricity supply industry. In this case the backers were Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines and China’s Zijin Mining Group who own Africa’s largest copper plant, the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project joint venture in Lualaba province. 

Dubai-based Amea Power has signed a memorandum of understanding with Democratic Republic of Congo state utility Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel) to develop a 100MW solar PV project.