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A planned $187m financing deal between London AIM-listed San Leon Energy and Tri Ri Asset Management has foundered, with the New York-based finance house blaming regulatory and compliance problems.

Having reached financial close on its three Koruson II projects, Anglo American/EDF JV Envusa Energy expects to start construction in H1 2024, to install combined wind and solar capacity of 520MW in South Africa’s Northern Cape.

With crude now flowing through the 1,982km Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, a fivefold increase in oil production beckons for Niger, amid signs that Niamey is emerging from post-coup isolation and has mended ties with Ecowas and the US – a critical factor in developing the greenfield uranium mine at Dasa.

The authorities have offered development support to an initial ten independent power producer schemes, in a policy shift designed to enhance the bankability of IPP projects and encourage more private sector players to contribute to Zimbabwe’s faltering electricity generation infrastructure. African Energy examines the new scheme and looks at the state of power generation throughout a country where peak demand outstrips available supply – a situation that has lately been worsened by declining water levels at the Kariba Dam.

A drought has sharply reduced electricity generation in Zambia, prompting state-owned power utility Zesco to start rationing electricity. An eight-hour daily electricity rationing programme started on 11 March, in response to a reduced level of generation from Zesco’s drought hit hydroelectric power (HEP) plants.

Chinese firm Shanxi Construction is to develop a rare Eritrean utility-scale project, funded by the African Development Bank’s first energy investment in the country.

Australian junior Deep Yellow has raised the equity to fund development of its flagship Tumas uranium project, where a new NamPower grid connection and 20MWp solar IPP are planned to supply power.

London AIM-listed Chariot has confirmed that a feasibility study for the 10GW Project Nour green hydrogen (GH2) project had been completed and handed to the Mauritanian government.  Chariot and project partner TotalEnergies are planning a phased development. The Mauritanian government has signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for several other large GH2 projects as it aims to be “the largest producer and exporter of hydrogen on the African continent.”

France’s TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy have signed a farm-in agreement to take majority control between them of Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa. Existing partners say the block is on trend with major Orange Basin discoveries including Venus and Graff offshore Namibia.

Italian major Eni has announced a new find on Block CI-205, which it called the second-largest hydrocarbons discovery to date in Côte d’Ivoire, following its Baleine discovery in 2021.

Mining companies are planning to cut thousands of jobs in response to negative domestic and international factors, which could cause wider economic problems and difficulties for the government in the run-up to the late May general election. Critical minerals offer huge potential, but structural constraints weigh heavy on investors.

Hive Hydrogen has signed an agreement with Cape Town-based Genesis Eco-Energy Developments to secure 372MW of wind electricity for its multi-billion dollar Coega green ammonia plant in Nelson Mandela Bay.  

CFM’s appointment to manage the Southern African Power Pool ’s $1.3bn Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility could free up a decades-long blockage in the development of cross-border transmission infrastructure. How quickly this happens depends on the success of fundraising efforts in the coming months, and the willingness of utilities and finance ministries to make the RTIFF scheme work.

Former utility Ente Nazionale Energia Elettrica (Enee) collapsed in 1991 at the start of a devastating civil war and Somalia has not had a national grid since. However, entrepreneurs have maintained a good level of service in the cities, particularly Mogadishu, where three vertically-integrated independent power producers (IPPs) compete for retail business.

Vaalco Energy’s purchase of Svenska Petroleum Exploration will give the US indie a 27.4% interest in Block CI-40, which holds the producing Baobab field offshore Côte d’Ivoire, in a deal that further reduces beleaguered Saudi-Ethiopian tycoon Sheikh Mohammed Al-Amoudi’s business empire.