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Electrical testing began on the first 22MW unit of the 88MW Mount Coffee hydroelectric power project on 3 December. Mechanical testing has been completed and the unit is expected to be officially commissioned on 15 December. A second turbine is scheduled to be commissioned in February 2017. All four units should be operational by August 2017.

With Eskom pushing for 4% annual average growth in generation between now and 2025, the South African utility is making progress towards adding capacity, general manager projects Braam Conradie said during Spintelligent’s African Utility Week in Cape Town.

The announcement of preferred bidders in the fourth round of South Africa’s multi-billion dollar renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme has been put back after third-round preferred bidders suffered further delays reaching financial close. The announcement had been scheduled for 24 November. The 17 REIPPP3 preferred bidders were announced on 29 October 2013, and the signing of key agreements was originally scheduled for 30 July. However, margins squeezed to lower tariffs have left the projects vulnerable to shocks, and several have struggled with problems connecting their projects to the grid.

The government has issued further tenders as part of its ‘Projet Pagose’ plan to improve performance in the electricity supply sector and at state water and electricity utility Jiro sy Rany Malagasy (Jirama). The Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons has invited expressions of interest by 29 July for a World Bank International Development Association-backed project to provide technical assistance to develop an electrification strategy, including evaluating the current programme, conceptualising, planning and implementing a national strategy, and preparing a national electrification plan. Applications can be emailed to [email protected], copied to [email protected] and [email protected].

German renewable energy developer BayWa r.e. announced on 20 June the commissioning of four solar photovoltaic (PV) diesel hybrid systems in Dakar. The project is the company’s first large solar sector project in Africa. The systems, which have a total installed capacity of 800kWp, were installed by Dakar-based Dieng & Co Engineering SAS on behalf of the government on four new ministerial buildings and on carports. Planning and supply of components was carried out by BayWa r.e., which also provided on-site support during construction and commissioning through its off-grid subsidiary OneShore Energy.

Sinohydro will start construction of the 147MW Adjarala storage hydropower project on the Mono River in March. The Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering group announced on 27 January that the project would take four years to build and would entail the construction of a 3,700 metre-long earth and rockfill dam, with an average height of nearly 40 metres, as well as a powerhouse with three 49MW units, and connecting transmission lines. Sinohydro said that financing for the $550m project would be covered by a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

The Opec Fund for International Development (Ofid) on 4 February signed a $15m loan package with the government for the Kenya Electricity Expansion project.

Rabat has released little information about the impact of gas finds in eastern Morocco, in line with its cautious management of information on the hydrocarbons industry. But reserves in the Sound Energy-operated Tendrara gas field are now deemed sufficient for the government to stop taking gas through the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME) when its contract with Algeria expires in 2020-21. This means Morocco will not need to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) until much later in the next decade, when new combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants are built, officials in Rabat have told African Energy.

Kaduna State governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Germany’s Helios Energy on a 30MW solar power plant.

Australia’s African Energy Resources (AFR) has signed a joint development agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power to develop a 300MW minemouth coal power plant at AFR’s Sese coal field (AE 260/8). On 2 October, the companies jointly submitted an expression of interest in developing the greenfield power plant requested by the Botswanan Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources. The Sese coal field has enough resources to fuel around 2,400MW of generation capacity for 25 years. However, the company’s water allocation and environmental permitting is currently only sufficient for two 300MW facilities.

The council of ministers on 12 May gave initial backing to preliminary assessments of a 30MW solar PV project in Grand Bara and 40MW biomass project in Damerjog. Engie is developing the Grand Bara solar project on an unsolicited basis, having signed a memorandum of understanding with the government for the project in May 2019. The cabinet approved the conclusions of a preliminary evaluation of the project, saying that it would reduce reliance on imported power while creating jobs and contributing to economic and social development.

Edo Cement, part of Nigeria’s BUA Group, has given Siemens Energy an order for three of its model SGT-500 gas turbines. The turbines will be installed at the Okpella cement factory in Okpella, Edo State. Delivery is scheduled for spring 2014 and, once installation is complete, the plant will have the capacity to produce 2.5m t/yr of cement.

Canadian-Saudi joint venture SkyPower FAS Energy has signed agreements with the federal and Delta State governments which it says will lead to the development of 3,000MW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects over the next five years at a cost of $5bn. The developer is a joint venture set up in August 2013 between Toronto-based SkyPower Global and Saudi renewables developer FAS Energy, a subsidiary of the Fawaz Alhokair Group conglomerate. The agreements were signed in Abuja during the World Economic Forum on Africa, along with a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between the Canadian and Nigerian governments, which was signed by Nigerian trade and investment minister Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga and Canadian international development minister Christian Paradis.

The Ministry of Energy has approved permits for two small hydropower plants being developed by France’s Voltalia in the Middle Atlas region. The permits for the unnamed 9.8MW and 7.2MW projects follow technical approvals issued by the Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable for the connection of the plants to the national grid.

Power project development seems to be gaining pace in Uganda as the government has turned to China to fund the 600MW Karuma dam, a project it previously planned to develop from its own resources. “We have begun negotiations with China to offer us credit to fund the project,” minister of state for energy Simon D’Ujanga told Reuters. “They will supply the contractor so that we don’t have to go through protracted procurement procedures.” The government signed a memorandum of understanding on 20 April with Turkey’s Mapa Construction for the 600MW Ayago dam project in the Murchison Falls National Park, while Katwe Geothermal Power Project Limited (KGPPL) has a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 150MW geothermal project in Kasese district, western Uganda.