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New Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye pointedly opted for Nouakchott as the destination for his first official foreign trip, ending a long tradition of starting in France and underlining his Pastef party’s pan-African agenda. Investors will be watching closely as discussions with Mauritanian President Mohammed Ghazouani centred around the potential for renegotiating the joint Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG development’s terms, writes Waly Dione Faye.

While many see doing business in Democratic Republic of Congo as problematic, Africa Finance Corporation is pushing ahead on a trio of schemes involving renewable energy, critical minerals and infrastructure, helped by its status as an African multilateral in which the DRC government is a shareholder.

Moroccan plans to build regasification plants to supply Onee’s existing and planned CCGT power stations have been mooted for more than a decade, but could now finally be moving ahead, with government commitments to build an LNG import unit at Nador, with other schemes to follow.

Prospects for the regional electricity supply industry and West African power trading took a huge leap forward when two major networks interconnected at Linsan in Guinea. Much work remains to be done after the 2 April link-up, but the OMVG-CLSG interconnection points to a more positive direction of travel for a West African Power Pool that is starting to excite market interest.

Loadshedding in Guinea has fed into widespread protests that are making life difficult for General Mamady Doumbouya, as the interim president looks to boost support for his regime with an economic boost from Simandou and other projects before holding delayed elections in 2025.

Low rainfall in Guinea has led to yet another round of loadshedding and, in turn, widespread protests and deadly violence. Interim President Mamady Doumbouya is keen to end loadshedding and stoke the economy before holding delayed elections in 2025, but a small pipeline of projects raises questions about how soon new capacity can be brought online, writes Marc Howard.

Rehabilitation of the 178MW turbine at Inga II, along with plans for up to 210MW from on-site generators to tackle grid instability and increased electricity imports from Zambia are all on track, according to Ivanhoe Mines, as the Canadian operator works to provide sufficient power to Democratic Republic of Congo’s strategic Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

DPA Southern Africa has broken ground on the Bloemfontein solar PV plant in Free State, which will supply power to Africa Data Centre sites in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is seeking proposals for 616MW/246MWh of battery energy storage systems at five Eskom substation in Free State province.

Abu Dhabi’s involvement in conflicts in Sudan and Libya is back in focus, after the UAE opened a second field hospital in eastern Chad, following evidence that its existing hospital was used as a cover for supplying weapons to Sudanese civil war leader Hemedti’s RSF militia. It fits into a wider pattern of Emirati involvement in African conflicts, as well as business.

Political uncertainty grips South Africa ahead of national and provincial elections on 29 May, with opinion polls suggesting the ruling African National Congress could lose its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years, raising the possibility of a coalition government and the prospect of a surge in ‘pork barrel’ politics.

TotalEnergies has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sonatrach on further developing natural gas resources in the Timimoun region, where the French major has existing interests, while an LNG supply contract has been extended by another year.

Sonatrach has signed a rare heads of agreement with a smaller company, Sweden’s Tethys Oil.

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has appointed Globeleq’s Red Sands project as the fifth preferred bidder under its battery energy storage independent power producer procurement programme (BESIPPP) first bid window.  The project will be the largest standalone battery energy storage system in Africa and ends the initial phase of the BESIPPP programme.

In a significant boost to Zambia’s installed capacity, Copperbelt Energy Corporation’s Itimpi solar PV plant has come online in Garneton, Kitwe district.