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Australian mining company Magnis Resources announced on 16 May that it has signed a power development agreement with the US’ Symbion Power to provide a 30MW gas power plant, substation and 132kV transmission line for the Nachu graphite project. Symbion will be responsible for funding, developing and building the electrical infrastructure. Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) has given its approval in principle for the deal to proceed. Magnis will now complete an environmental impact assessment and technical and economic feasibility studies.

Kibo Mining on 3 July announced a strategic development agreement with China’s Sepco III. The deal will see Sepco III make an initial investment in Kibo of 10%-15% with an option to make a second investment of 5%-10% within 18 months. The agreement follows the award to Sepco in May of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build the transmission line that will connect Kibo’s 300MW integrated coal project in Tanzania to the Mbeya substation.

A fifth 334MW turbine came online on 5 July at the Laúca hydropower plant. This means that five of the six turbines are now operating, with the last expected in H1 2020. A second powerhouse taking advantage of ecological flow will add 65.5MW, taking total installed capacity to 2,070MW. The $4bn plant is being built by Brazil’s Odebrecht, with Bardell and Andritz supplying electromechanical equipment. The first turbine began operating in August 2017 after five years of construction.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kibo Mining has announced an agreement to acquire an 85% interest in the Mabesekwa coal to power project in Botswana from Sechaba Natural Resources, a 100% subsidiary of Shumba Energy.