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Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) secretary-general Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo fell victim to a heart attack in his native Nigeria on 5 July, aged 63, shortly before he was due to leave the post he had held with some skill and grace since August 2016.

InnoSun Energy will develop a 5MW solar plant at the Trekkopje site north-east of Swakopmund, to supply power to Orano Mining Namibia’s Erongo desalination plant.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 14 July named a new finance minister to replace Abderrahmane Raouya, who was sacked.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has contracted Italian specialist Steam to conduct tests and set up a facility for extracting minerals such as silica and lithium from geothermal fluids, in a revenue diversification bid.

A confidential United Nations Group of Experts report, leaked on 4 August, included apparent evidence that the Rwandan military had been operating in Democratic Republic of Congo since last November, supporting the re-emergence of the Tutsi-led M23 militia.

 The Public Utility Regulatory Commission (Purc) has set the following electricity prices per kWh for consumers as of 1 September.

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) is seeking developers to build four 1.6MW or three 2MW diesel generators at its Praslin power station in Baie Ste Anne.

Global Alliance for People and Planet and the Norwegian government have pledged more funding to support the development of solar power in Sahel countries.

French developer Akuo Energy announced on 19 November the full commissioning of the 50MWp Kita solar PV plant in the Kayes region. The project, described by Akuo as “the largest operational solar park in West Africa”, has been developed under a 30-year build, own, operate and transfer concession with a 28-year power purchase agreement with Energie du Mali.  

According to the most widely accepted version of still hazy events, President Idriss Déby Itno (IDI) was injured on 17-18 April fighting rebels near Mao in the Kanem region, some 300km from N’djamena; he was pronounced dead early on 20 April. The military leader, who became president in 1990, had just been re-elected (with 79.32% of the official vote) for a sixth term in a vote on 11 April.

Coming only days after France committed troops and its air force to overturning dramatic advances made by Islamist militants in Mali, the 16 January attack on a gas production facility at In Amenas, in south-eastern Algeria, underlined the security threat and political volatility that now blight the Saharan/Sahel region. Never during the 1990s conflict with radical Islam did a major Algerian hydrocarbons facility face such attack.

Kenya’s incoming government will do well to learn from previous efforts to reform the electricity supply industry. It will be guided by a new energy white paper, which offers a roadmap to 2040 and which could help Kenya move towards upper-middle-income status. African Energy usually writes its own Views, but such is the plan’s importance that we asked a prominent industry player to assess the proposals and the industry’s direction of travel. The writer has asked to remain anonymous so as not to prejudice their position.

The World Bank signed partial risk guarantee (PRG) agreements on 24 August for the ground-breaking 450MW Azura-Edo scheme, whose successful close is expected to pave the way for further independent power projects (IPPs). Financial close is expected in the next few months.“This is a very important project for us, not as a deal but as a demonstration of how the Nigerian power sector needs to go forward. If you look at it, World Bank Group exposure to Azura-Edo is pretty significant.

Barring unwelcome twists in Nigeria’s volatile elite politics, Goodluck Jonathan’s peaceful departure from Aso Rock will be judged an unexpected success at the end of a largely failed presidency. The economy has grown over the past five years, but the president’s role in this was limited at best, while mismanagement of issues such as the jihadist insurgency in the north-east has added to Nigerians’ insecurity. Jonathan’s defeat means that no future president can rest comfortable in the assumption that his ultimate control of the levers of patronage will translate into electoral success; this is a major step forward for Nigeria and, arguably, the continent.

The problems of Nigeria’s southeast are rarely far from being a political and oil company preoccupation. Issues of governance and reputational damage weigh heavy on majors’ perceptions about operating in a lucrative but troubled region as lawyers busy themselves acting for local communities against Royal Dutch Shell and potentially other IOCs in a series of class actions. The new military top team appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari is challenged with reducing insecurity, including from rising levels of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.