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Monrovia is looking to secure dry season power imports from Ghana via the West African Power Pool and is also continuing negotiations to add a second utility-scale solar PV plant.

The new specification for a USTDA-funded feasibility study indicates a large amount of storage capacity could be added to JCM Power’s 50MW Mzuzu wind project.

Indian conglomerate Adani will finance, construct, and operate a number of transmission lines and substations, under a 30-year, $737m deal with Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco). It comes after a local court recently blocked a bid by Adani to take over the management of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

A precipitous decline in gas output may turn out to be a bigger problem than the recent month-long blockade of oil exports. There is no quick fix for the shortage of feedstock for General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol)’s fleet of power plants, which now depend on record levels of imported diesel the country cannot afford. There is also no other source of generation to fall back on, with Libya now Africa’s only country without any utility-scale, grid-connected renewable capacity, writes John Hamilton.

Gambia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and utility National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) have invited independent power producer (IPP) developers to submit a request for qualification (RFQ) for the first stage of the Soma solar-storage project. On completion, the plant would not only be Gambia’s first utility-scale IPP but is also planned to be the foundation for a major West African Power Pool-focused second phase.

Climate Fund Managers has made a further investment into Konexa to back commercial and industrial projects, including a renewable power plant for Nigerian Breweries’ sites in Lagos and Ama.

Algeria is following the regional lead taken by Morocco and Egypt and has signed memoranda of understanding with partners from Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain to launch feasibility studies into two green hydrogen (GH2) schemes which could export to Europe.

Sasol’s Msenge Emoyeni wind farm has started commercial operations and is supplying power to the company’s Sasolburg site in the Free State, wheeled through the national grid. The project is part of a wider plan by the South African chemicals and energy giant to procure up to 1.2GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Increasing demand from the national grid and commercial consumers, climate volatility and a lack of gas feedstock have concentrated Ivorian officials’ focus on increasing renewable energy capacity, moving away from a longstanding reliance on hydroelectric and thermal generation. Already a vital player in the West African Power Pool, Côte d’Ivoire’s regional trading significance has been underlined by a $300m US grant, writes Marc Howard.

The power and water utility serving Morocco’s commercial capital has transferred from French private sector control and is now being run by the state-owned SRM C-S. The move underlines the extent to which African governments are looking for new management models for vital services and highlights how the private sector has failed to meet expectations in electricity distribution.

Khadim Bâ, a central figure in Senegal’s power and energy sectors for many years, has been arrested following allegations by Senegalese Customs over unpaid oil import duties, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

Côte d’Ivoire was an independent power production pioneer when Globeleq and partners commissioned the first phase of Azito GTP in 1999; it now supplies around one-quarter of CdI’s on-grid supply

Speculation that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s close relationship is under pressure come as Senegal prepares for parliamentary elections that could give their Pastef party a big majority or provide some hope to ex-president Macky Sall and other opponents, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar, with input from Jon Marks.

A shareholder in the 300MW Cap des Biches IPP plant has alleged that former electricity minister Samuel Sarr had made “questionable use” of $3.3m of company funds, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

Centragrid, the project company for developer African Transmission Corporation (ATC), has commissioned the second phase of its Nyabira solar PV plant in Zimbabwe, in a significant step for a country that is hoping IPPs might help to solve an enduring power crisis. The Centragrid Nyabira plant is Zimbabwe’s first utility-scale solar project wholly funded by domestic capital. ATC founder and director Victor Utedzi spoke to African Energy about the challenges overcome by the project’s second phase and the developer’s plans for phase three.