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Emerging Capital Partners-backed Eranove and the Ministry of Mines and Energy on 23 October signed a concession agreement for the 65MW Kékéli combined-cycle gas turbine plant, to be located in Lomé port. The concession agreement is for the design, financing, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the plant.The government launched a request for proposals in January, with Eranove, Turkey’s Aksa Enerji Uretim and Italian company Ascot all involved.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), on behalf of the Agence Togolaise d’Electrification Rurale et des Energies Renouvelables, has invited bids by 16 November from consultants to carry out an environmental and social study for a hydropower plant and the rural electrification of Sarakawa in the Kara region of northern Togo.

Ghana’s Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has urged the government to delineate the maritime border with Togo to defuse a potential row over the East Keta Ultra Deep Block, operated by GNPC Operating Services Company Limited (Gosco).“PIAC is concerned that companies exploring in the East Keta Ultra Deep Block jointly owned by Gosco, Bluestar and Heritage are facing challenges from the Togolese authorities regarding the maritime boundary between Togo and Ghana.

The Benin parliament on 13 April ratified an amendment to the Benin-Togo Electricity Law, opening the power sector to private sector investment. The change repeals the law which in July 1968 established the Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB) as the sole offtaker of electricity between the two states. Private companies will now be able to sell and purchase electricity in either country without the CEB’s involvement.

The General Secretariat of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) is seeking an engineering consultancy to manage and supervise the construction of the 330kV Nigeria-Niger-Benin/Togo-Burkina Faso North Core project, as well as a project director to act as head of the Implementation Management Unit (IMU). Expressions of interest for the consultancy are invited by 10 April, while applications for the project director job are due by 2 May.

UK-based BBOXX has secured a $4m local currency loan from government-owned Union Togolaise de Banque (UTB) to fund the first phase of the company’s activities in Togo. The Togolese government aims to increase access to electricity from 36% in 2016 to 60% in 2022 under its Accelerated Growth and Employment Strategy. In rural areas, a government study identified 300,000 households that cannot economically be connected to the grid but which are suitable for solar home systems.

The government has begun implementing a five-year strategic action plan for the electricity sector for the period 2018-2022. The CFA668bn ($1.2bn) plan aims to treble Togo’s generation capacity of 161MW. Implementation should enable the government to meet targets in its Accelerated Growth and Employment Strategy to increase electricity access from 36% in 2016 to 50% in 2020 and 60% in 2022, though rapid population growth means these targets are challenging. Togo’s population is expected to grow from 7.6m in 2016 to 10m in 2030.

The UK’s BBOXX has reached agreement with the government to supply 300,000 solar home systems in Togo over the next five years. The government’s Vision 2030 programme aims to provide universal access to electricity. The population stands at 7m people, of which 700,000 households are living without access to the grid, although 66% of the population has access to a mobile phone. BBOXX will seek to roll out the first 10,000 systems across rural areas over the next 12 months.

State utility Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) has invited prequalification for a project to electrify 69 rural communities. The project is divided into two lots, with Lot 1 covering the Kara and Savanes regions, and Lot 2 the Maritime, Plateaux and Centrale regions. The work is funded by the Islamic Development Bank and Opec Fund for International Development. Bids for prequalification tender AOI/PM No 022/DEP/PRMP/DG/CEET/2016 are due by 18 October. Invitations to bid are expected to be issued in January.

Togo is embarking on a country-wide solar rural electrification programme to bring power to 293 towns and villages in the country’s five regions. Known in French as Programme de Valorisation de l’Energie Solaire, or Proves, the scheme envisages the installation of solar photovoltaic systems to electrify 293 towns and villages in the Savanes, Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime regions.

The Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB) and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) are seeking bids for a transmission line between Mango and Dapaong in northern Togo and associated medium and low-tension distribution networks. The project is funded with a $46m loan from the Islamic Development Bank. The aim is to improve supply to northern Togo by extending CEB’s 161kV grid from Dapaong to Mango, interconnecting Dapaong with the CEB network in neighbouring Benin at Porga and improving living conditions for rural communities.

Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo plans to seek bids for the electrification of 69 rural communities. The project has received $11m of funding from the Islamic Development Bank, and only companies from member countries are eligible to bid. The contract will involve the engineering, supply and installation of electrical equipment, and the supervision of works. Lot 1, for a power network in the Kara and Savane regions, comprises construction of 251km of 20-33kV lines and 67km of low-tension lines and street lighting, as well as posts, connection equipment and prepayment meters.

Niger is relaunching the Kandadji hydro scheme with the help of the World Bank and making progress on a coal-fired plant. Mining schemes are leading private sector involvement in Burkina Faso, while projects in Benin and Togo suffer from a lack of Nigerian gas and the high cost of fuel imports.

Germany has granted Togo €7.5m ($10m) for the refurbishment of the 65MW Nangbeto hydroelectric dam on the Mono River. The dam was completed in 1987 to supply power to Togo and Benin and is operated by the Communauté Electrique du Bénin. A financing agreement was signed in Lomé on 24 September by the German ambassador and the Togolese finance minister.

Afren spin-off Gasol has named former Opec secretary-general Rilwanu Lukman as chairman, replacing Cornelia Meyer, who stepped down with effect from 1 August. Lukman co-founded Afren and served as its non-executive chairman from November 2006 to December 2008, and as strategic adviser to the board from July 2007 to December 2008, stepping down when he was named Nigerian petroleum resources minister by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.