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Tunur, the UK-based developer of a project to export power generated by concentrated solar technology from Tunisia to Europe, has acquired additional financial backers and is targeting first financial close within 18 months. The company has persisted in pushing forwards its plan despite the political uncertainties of Tunisia’s post-Arab Spring transition and doubts over the concept of export-driven projects in North Africa following the implosion of the Desertec Industrial Initiative last October. It now hopes the establishment of a fully constitutional government will clear away the final hurdles.

Electricity minister Mohamed Shaker met President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on 8 February to review the final details of the proposed contract with Rosatom to build a 4.8GW nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast at Dabaa, in Marsa Matrouh governorate. While both sides are issuing optimistic statements about an imminent agreement, two strict reporting bans have suggested that other facts about the development have yet to appear in the public domain.

The High Court in Accra on 8 June dismissed an application for an interlocutory injunction to prevent the signing of a concession agreement for the operation and management of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by China’s BXC Company. The Millennium Development Authority (MDA), which is responsible for implementing the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact in Ghana, announced the decision on the same day. The MDA said “the substantive matter is to take its normal course”.

In office for just over a year, the Jubilee Alliance government led by Kenyatta and deputy president William Ruto has had a difficult start to its tenure. As well as the trials at the International Criminal Court and accusations of a lack of preparedness in the wake of September’s terrorist strike on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, commentators speak of a spike in corruption since the two assumed office, and scandals certainly seem to have permeated the higher tiers of government.

Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) invites bids by 13 December for the rehabilitation and reinforcement of substations and medium- and low-voltage networks across the country. The contracted work is to be financed from a $35m International Development Association credit approved by the World Bank in December 2017 to reinforce and expand the electricity network and facilitate private sector investment in power generation.

China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) has given France’s Alstom group electromechanical and technical services contracts worth €50m ($54m) for the 700MW Zungeru hydroelectric power project. Alstom will provide four 175MW Francis turbine generator sets and related equipment and carry out equipment design, manufacturing, supervision of installation, commissioning, testing and site services via its subsidiary Alstom Hydro China. The project on the middle and upper portions of the Kaduna River will be owned by the government, and will be Nigeria’s largest hydropower plant when completed.

Much remains to be done to improve levels of energy access and public services in many countries, but Southern Africa’s generation capacity is undoubtedly growing, according to African Energy Live Data. The new figures – extrapolated from Live Data’s 1,218 detailed entries for the region – show that on-grid generation capacity will have increased by 50% in the decade to 2020 if the potential of the project pipeline reported on the database is fulfilled.

Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) has selected a consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles, in association with Mitsui & Co, as preferred bidder for the 150MW Taza wind project.

The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation has announced an agreement with Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank (OeEB), the Austrian development bank, to increase sustainable energy investment in sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. OeEB agreed to contribute €2m ($2.6m) to support project development, capacity building and assistance to financial institutions under the Africa Sustainable Energy Facility, a joint IFC and European Investment Bank (EIB) programme to increase investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Both institutions are contributing equally to the €60m financing facility, while OeEB, alongside EIB, is providing additional funds for a support unit that will identify and facilitate investments.

The European Investment Bank on 10 September agreed a loan of €75m ($100m) to Eskom to finance the construction of a 100MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant near Upington, in the Northern Cape. The project is also receiving funding from the African Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, the Clean Technology Fund, Germany’s KfW and the World Bank.

French consultancy Sofreco has a new technical assistance contract to support the energy agency of the three-nation Great Lakes Economic Community (CEPGL), Energie des Grands Lacs. The 2015-16 contract is intended to build institutional, technical, human and other capacity; update the Regional Energy Master Plan; harmonise norms and standards, and environmental assessment practices; adopt funding, implementation and monitoring procedures for studies and projects; and consolidate the information and communication system.

The government’s decision to abandon controversial plans to create regional electricity distributors shows the state centralising key business decisions, rather than letting the market shape the direction of the supply industry.

In a continuing reshuffle of parastatal heads and other senior posts by the outgoing prime minister, Youssef Chahed, his Tahya Tounès party ally Leila Ouled Ali Bahri is to become head of Steg Energies Renouvelables (ER), the renewables affiliate of state utility Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz. Created in 2010 to promote solar projects, Steg ER has public and a few private sector shareholders, not all of whom are said to be happy with Chahed’s last-minute ‘political’ appointment.

Elecnor subsidiary IQA Group has won UK Export Finance (UKEF) support for a contract to upgrade two substations in Viana, east of Luanda, and Gabela, in Kwanza Sul, over two years.

Prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn formally inaugurated the 120MW Ashegoda wind farm on 26 October. The wind farm, which started commissioning a year ago, was developed by France’s Vergnet, which signed a contract with Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) in October 2008. Lahmeyer carried out feasibility studies and supervised construction. Financing for the €210m ($272m) project was provided by €113m of buyer credit from Compagnie Française d’Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur, a €45m concessional loan from the Agence Française de Développement, and a €33m tied commercial loan from BNP Paribas. EEPCo provided €19m in local currency.