Search results

The agreement for Senegal to become only the second African economy to secure a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) hinges on Dakar being allowed to push ahead with natural gas and other thermal energy projects. This will allow the government to continue with its ambitious gas-to-power (GTP) plans.

Eskom’s board of directors has named former company executive Dan Marokane as the troubled power utility’s new chief executive, eliciting the usual expressions of hope and doubt depending on how industry observers see South Africa’s direction of travel.

National tea producer Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is close to completing construction work on three hydroelectric power stations, which it plans to switch on in 2024, as the smallholders’ corporation prepares for more HEP and solar schemes to supply its huge operations.

Danish investor and developer Frontier Energy has announced a co-investment with three European development finance agencies for the 50MWp, under-construction, multi-site Planet Solar independent power producer (IPP) plant. Planet Solar will be Sierra Leone’s first large grid-connected IPP, the funders said.

Independent power producer Momnai has started construction at two plants for Bamburi Cement.

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has jump-started dormant plans to build South Africa’s first new nuclear capacity since 1985, with an international tender to be issued in March, writes Marc Howard.

Nigeria's  Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has announced a construction start at two off-grid solar PV systems in the Federal Capital Territory, backed by $12.4m from the South Korean government.

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) has signed a €21.8m ($23.5m) deal with Belgium’s International Montage Maintenance (IMM) to add 18MW of capacity to the 66.4MW Roche Caiman thermal baseload plant in Mahé.

Efforts to upgrade regional power pools are critical if the CMP is to achieve its vision of a fully interconnected African power grid, as discussed in the latest African Energy view. Among signs of progress, the launch of a southern African Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Fund is expected soon, the West Africa Power Pool is testing a day-ahead market and the Eastern Africa Power Pool aims for its market to go live by mid-2024.

National Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) registered 98 new power generation projects between July and September, with a combined capacity of 908MW, taking the total registered so far this year to 2.9GW. However, few of these new schemes include storage components, meaning that when solar or wind resources are unavailable there will be even more pressure on the grid.

French utility Engie has concluded the purchase of BTE Renewables’ South African assets from private equity investor Actis, six months after the deal was announced. It is the second significant South Africa development for Engie in recent weeks, following financial close on the Grootspruit and Graspan solar PV plants on 30 November.

The African School of Regulation (ASR) is expected to soon appoint a permanent director to succeed interim director Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, who was appointed in July 2022. Officially launched in September 2023, with its headquarters at the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in Accra, ASR has in fact been running seminars and conferences with regulators across the continent for more than 12 months.

Mining and metals group Sibanye-Stillwater has reached financial close on two renewable energy projects that will provide power to its operations via a wheeling agreement with state-owned utility Eskom.

Yemeni-owned independent power producer Sabson plans a greenfield HFO-fired plant, as part of Somalia’s effort to increase its low on-grid capacity.

Food and animal feed producer Unga Group is close to finishing the installation of 3MW solar PV capacity at five manufacturing across the country.