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The United Kingdom’s Renewable Energy Performance Platform on 11 December announced that it had signed an agreement to invest £1m equity in renewable-powered battery rental company Mobile Power.

Off-grid solar company Easy Solar announced on 29 September that it has raised $3m through its series A equity round from impact investor Acumen and the Netherlands’ FMO, and $2m of debt through crowdfunding platform Trine. Easy Solar operates in Liberia and Sierra Leone. “Sierra Leone’s low electrification rates combined with limited alternatives for clean energy make Easy Solar’s business model highly relevant,” FMO venture programme manager Marieke Roestenberg said.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), announced on 20 July that it had signed an agreement with Joule Africa to invest $6m in the 143MW Bumbuna II hydropower project. The funding is part of a package designed to push the project to financial close. InfraCo said construction was expected to begin next year.Joule Africa has been developing Bumbuna II since 2011.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), announced on 20 July that it had signed an agreement with Joule Africa to invest $6m in the 143MW Bumbuna II hydropower project. The funding is part of a package designed to push the project to financial close. InfraCo said construction was expected to begin next year.Joule Africa has been developing Bumbuna II since 2011.

The government has announced provisional awards from Sierra Leone’s fourth licensing round to Cluff Energy Africa and Innoson Oil and Gas. Cluff ’s acreage covers graticular blocks 23,24,25,36,37,38,39,54,55,56,57,74,75,94 and 95 in shallow water offshore Freetown, while Nigeria’s Innoson was awarded blocks 96, 97, 114, 115, 116, 117, 133, 134 and 135 off the southern coast. Block 133 contains theVenus-B1 discovery well, drilled by Anadarko in 2009.

Total has signed an agreement to sell its fuel marketing and services businesses in Liberia and Sierra Leone to West African distribution business Conex Oil & Gas Holdings.The assets consist of a network of 63 service stations, general trade fuel sales and petroleum products import and storage operations.The sale is expected to be completed during Q2 2020. “These sales will contribute to Total’s ongoing divestment programme and demonstrate our ability to relentlessly highgrade our portfolio,” said Total chief financial officer Jean- Pierre Sbraire.

InfraCo Africa announced on 27 August that it had signed a shareholders’ agreement with PowerGen committing $6.9m to developing the Sierra Leone Mini-Grid Project. The project will build 41 solar PV, battery and diesel hybrid mini-grids, establishing 12,500 new connections. Of these, around 85% will be households and 15% small enterprises and public institutions. PowerGen was selected to implement the project following a tender run by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), under the umbrella of the Rural Renewable Energy Project (RREP), which is funded by £35m ($43m) from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID).

The World Bank’s International Development Association approved additional financing worth $50m on 17 May for the Energy Sector Utility Reform Project. The government will contribute $1m. Following a slow start in 2013-14, the programme has supported the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) with a management contract, capacity building and rehabilitation and expansion of the distribution network. The bank provided $40m for the initial project.

Karadeniz Group, which owns Karpowership, has confirmed to African Energy that commercial operations began at its second powership in Sierra Leone on 31 March. The 36MW Göktay Bey ship is moored in Cline Bay near Freetown, not far from Karadeniz’s 126MW Dogan Bey ship, which is supplying 30MW to the Kroo Bay area.

London-based GeoPartners has announced a new 2D seismic survey to support Sierra Leone’s fourth offshore licensing round, whose relaunch is planned for later this year. The round was suspended in September 2018 following the appointment in August of a new head of the Petroleum Directorate. New director-general Timothy Kabba, who replaced Raymond Kargbo, halted the round to give time for consultations with industry.GeoPartners said the new long-offset survey would consist of 9,000km of data covering the full extent of the offshore area to be offered in the licence round.

The European Commission-funded Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI) has committed $3.5m of development capital to finance 50% of the external development expenses needed for the 143MW Bumbuna II hydroelectric power project to reach financial close.

Sierra Leone hopes to relaunch its licensing round in Q1 2019 following a change of leadership at the Petroleum Directorate. The round opened in January offering five newly delineated offshore blocks, including areas of undeveloped discoveries from previous drilling campaigns, shallow water and deep and ultra-deep water.

Media reports in October that the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) had signed an agreement to finance a 50MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Sierra Leone are inaccurate, African Energy understands. IFC spokeswoman Laura MacInnis told African Energy that “at this time, IFC is only engaged in an assessment to understand the viability of solar PV as an energy option for the country”.

The governments of Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to share experience in oil and gas exploration.