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Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (Bera) has issued a licence to the local Shumba Energy for the 100MW Tati Solar plant, which is set to be developed in two 50MW phases.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will make its long-awaited decision next year on whether to extend its operations into sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). 

Industry observers feared old-guard elements in South Africa’s ruling ANC and the Mozambique government might not resist the temptation to call for their state companies to pre-empt the sale of Sasol’s 30% stake in Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company (Rompco).

The governments of South Africa – under the influence of less-than-liberal, traditional nationalist thinking in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) – and Mozambique (which may have been persuaded by regional politics to follow its powerful neighbour) could not resist the temptation to call for their state companies to pre-empt the sale of Sasol’s 30% stake in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company (Rompco) natural gas pipeline.

The planned Atlantique Pétrochimie refinery at Fouta, 30km from Pointe-Noire, promised by the Beijing Fortune Dingheng Investment company, is proceeding according to timetable, the Chinese investor’s local director-general Shao Sen told special economic zones and economic diversification minister Émile Ouosso in June.

Less than a fortnight after a court ruling that went against Eni, the Italian major announced on 6 July a significant oil discovery on the Eban exploration prospect in CTP Block 4, offshore Ghana. Eni said preliminary estimates place the potential of the Eban–Akoma complex between 500m-700m barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place.

The need to preserve land was one of the reasons put forward by Bui Power Authority deputy chief executive Anthony Osafo-Kissi for the development of the continent’s first floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) and co-located solar plant. A 1MW pilot project on the Bui reservoir was commissioned in Q1 2021, along with the first 50MWp tranche of an eventual 250MWp ground-mounted scheme beside the dam.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board has approved two grants worth a combined $83.6m to build a second transmission line between Ethiopia and Djibouti. The grants were secured from the AfDB’s African Development Fund, with $69.65m for Ethiopia and $13.95m for Djibouti.

Energy and mines minister Mohammed Arkab is proving one of Algerian politics’ survivors – which seemed unlikely when he was promoted into the government after years at state utility Sonelgaz.

The 11MWp solar PV plant at the Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Butere, Kakamega county, Kenya will be commissioned this September, MMTC told African Energy Live Data.

The 40MWac Nkhotakota solar PV plant in Malawi is on track to reach financial close later this year or early next year, in time to start operating in Q4 2022.

Zambia’s incoming administration is well aware of the urgent need to address the dire financial position of the vertically integrated state utility Zesco. The restructuring of Zesco to improve the utility’s operations, and increase its autonomy and efficiency to ensure long-term financial sustainability was high on the United Party for National Development (UPND)’s campaign agenda.

The São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) government expects to release two national action plans in September with the support of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) to raise its renewable energy (RE) rate, which is now about 5%. The Action Plan for Renewable Energy and National Plan for Efficient Energy Systems are intended to support the government’s aim to achieve 50% renewable energy generation by 2030.

El Sewedy Electric Company chief executive Ahmed El Sewedy travelled to Dar es Salaam in mid-August to lobby President Samia Suluhu Hassan for a possible extension of the June 2022 completion date for the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project. The Egyptian entrepreneur also mooted possible investments elsewhere in the country.

Another, unrelated fuel scandal has continued to unfold in the Malawian energy industry, following up the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation, opened in March 2020, into what has come to be known as ‘Dieselgate’, the theft of fuel from National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) meant for the ‘emergency’ diesel plants that have been operational in Malawi since 2018.