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Albatros Energy Mali has secured financing for a planned 90MW thermal power plant at Kayes in western Mali, which will be the country’s first grid-connected independent power project. African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has acquired a 44% stake in the project company through its AIIF3 fund. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and is expected to take 16 months, increasing Mali’s installed generation capacity by around 25% from 352MW now.

London-based Golar LNG has signed a preliminary heads of agreement with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) and Perenco Cameroon for the development of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project located 20km off the southern coast. The agreement is premised on the allocation of 500bcf of natural gas reserves from Perenco’s offshore Kribi fields, which will be exported to global markets via the Golar Hilli vessel, now under construction at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore. Golar will provide the liquefaction facilities and services under a tolling agreement to SNH and Perenco as owners of the upstream joint venture.

The Ministry of Finance has signed an agreement with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to finance a thermal power plant project in Al-Fula, West Kordofan. The agreement, signed on 14 March, was for total financing of KD50m ($170m), to be disbursed in two tranches.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is considering financing the construction of three wind farms: at Midelt in the Atlas Mountains (150MW), near Tangier (100MW) and at Essaouira (200MW) on the Atlantic coast. The projects’ total cost is estimated at €704m ($952m), with the EIB funding coming in the form of a loan to the parastatal Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE). The EIB has not yet decided the size of its contribution to the projects, which are part of the 850MW second phase of the Moroccan Wind Programme.

Ghana Grid Company (Gridco) invites expressions of interest by 5 December from consultants to update the generation and transmission master plans for 2018-2028. The updating is designed to enable Gridco and other power sector stakeholders, including public authorities, utilities, the West African Power Pool secretariat and donors, to have an overview of the future development of power generation and transmission facilities in the country and to provide a rational basis for decision-making and implementation.

African Development Bank (AfDB) shareholders on 31 October approved a $115bn capital increase – from $93bn to $208bn – more than doubling its capital base. The AfDB said its largest ever General Capital Increase (GCI) signalled “a united front by shareholders”. Analysts commented that it was a major success for the AfDB’s Nigerian president, Akinwumi Adesina, who is focused on securing a second term in office next year. The GCI will allow the AfDB to expand its operations, with a focus on investment in agriculture and infrastructure.

Implementation agreements and 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed on 19 December by project companies, the Ethiopian government and Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) for the Corbetti and Tulu Moye geothermal plants in Oromia. Both multi-phase projects are 520MW and are expected to cost around $2.2bn to develop. The agreements are expected to be taken to parliament for ratification early next year and drilling is expected on the first production wells at Corbetti in 2018.

South Africa's Energem Resources gets involved with the Stieglers Gorge hydropower project

Plagued by frequent load-shedding throughout February and March, Botswana’s government is looking to external consultants to streamline management of state utility Botswana Power Corporation (BPC). In late April, The Irish Times reported that the international consultancy arm of Ireland’s state-owned Electricity Supply Board, ESB International, had been awarded a three-year contract to manage BPC. An ESB spokeswoman told African Energy that the company was “in discussions for the project”, but that an agreement had yet to be finalised. Botswana has long relied on imported power, mainly from South Africa’s Eskom, Electricidade de Moçambique and Namibia’s Nampower, to meet demand, but supply has failed to keep pace with growing demand throughout the Southern African Power Pool.

Forces in Cyrenaica opposed to the United Nations-imposed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli have provoked a definitive challenge to its authority by blockading oil exports from the only major terminal still working in Libya. The damaging financial consequences of this action will be felt across the whole country, and the total shutdown of production – possibly within days – will also cause immense technical problems. But for those behind the action, such concerns may now be secondary as they attempt to shift the balance of the conflict in favour of the east, while also preparing for a likely military confrontation in the central zone presently dominated by Islamic State (IS).

A US Federal District Court on 2 September ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue rules on implementation of legislation requiring US-listed extractives companies to disclose payments by companies to host governments. Under the ruling in the case brought by Oxfam America a year ago, the SEC must submit an expedited schedule to issue a final rule for Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act within 30 days.