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The three core Mano River Union countries are confronted by major decisions that will shape their future direction, from potential progress on major resources plays led by Guinea’s huge Simandou iron ore mining and infrastructure development and Liberia’s struggles with major investor Arcelor Mittal to Sierra Leone’s political crisis. All three have searching questions of governance and equity for their populations, writes Jon Marks with correspondents in Freetown, Conakry and Monrovia.

Government agency the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL) has extended its fifth offshore licensing round until 27 January 2023, giving the positive spin that there is “increased interest in the upstream sector in West Africa”. Potential bidders can review 29,000km of 2D and 11,000km2 of 3D seismic data.

The West African Transco CLSG transmission network is working to build a second 243MW line, begin energy trade with indebted Liberia and integrate C&I customers and renewable energy sources into the sub-regional network that covers Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown has been connected to Transco’s Côte d’Ivoire-Liberia-Sierra Leone-Guinea (CLSG) transmission network, following the completion of synchronisation tests at the Bikongor and Bumbuna substations. In December, President Julius Maada Bio commissioned the service at Teloma, powering the southern and eastern regions of the country.

The second phase of the Sierra Leone mini-grids project being undertaken by Winch Energy is expected to be completed in the coming months, according to vice president for business development Chris Kanani.

Nigeria’s Innoson Oil & Gas  has revealed the estimated unrisked gross prospective recoverable resources of its offshore concession in Sierra Leone. The announcement follows a recently-concluded evaluation by reservoir consultancy Ryder Scott Company.  

The Rockefeller Foundations’ Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet has committed $50m to the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All)’s Universal Energy Facility (UEF).

UK-listed junior Wildcat Petroleum has won a non-exclusive licence to evaluate 20 offshore oil and gas blocks in Sierra Leone.

Government agency the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL) is auctioning 136 oil and gas blocks in the Sierra Leone Basin to international investors. Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL) director general Foday Mansaray told African Energy the country was “on the cusp of major oil and gas discovery”.

The commercial use of thermolysis or pyrolysis to convert organic waste into biofuels, syngas or pure hydrogen is still experimental in Africa, although the underlying technology is relatively well-established elsewhere. Most of the 22 operating biogas power plants recorded in African Energy Live Data use other methods. Early adopters of the technology include the Ford Silverton plant in Pretoria, H2-Industries and Oak Group Holdings in Egypt, Ghana’s Kumasi Technical University and the British Nigerian Pyrogenesys-led consortium. Success for any one of them will open wide new commercial opportunities, while also helping to address pressing environmental concerns.

Construction of the 6MWp Freetown Solar Park solar PV plant was completed in April, project consultant Karim Nasser told African Energy. Nasser said Covid-19-related restrictions caused work to stop from March to November 2020, delaying the plant’s completion, but it has now been handed over to the government, which launched a tender for operation and maintenance (O&M) services in March.

The United States’ Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved $217m in loan finance to Ceca SL Generation, the project company for the Western Area Power Generation Project (Wapgp). The plant – also known as Salone Power or Cecasl Power – is an 87MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility in the Kissy Dock area, 4km east from Freetown’s centre.

Off-grid developer Winch Energy has confirmed its funding for an ambitious solar mini-grid project, comprising 49 sites in Uganda and Sierra Leone. As Winch chief executive Nicholas Wrigley told African Energy in January, the funding, which comprises $100m of debt and equity, is for a new platform, Winch Energy IPP Holdings (WIPP).

The UK’S Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP), part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on 11 December announced that it had signed an agreement to invest £1m ($1.3m) of equity in renewable-powered battery rental company Mobile Power. The investment was part of a £2m series A funding round.