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Azito developer Globeleq is keen to invest further in Côte d’Ivoire’s power sector with “particular emphasis on renewable energy projects”, chief executive Mike Scholey told African Energy.

The Shema Power Lake Kivu (SPLK) independent power producer (IPP) in Rwanda has started supplying the grid, project director Tony de la Motte told African Energy. While the onshore methane-to-power plant has been fully commissioned, an equipment breakdown means SPLK is not yet at its full commercial operating capacity.  African Energy has taken a closer look at the project and the progress of other planned Lake Kivu power plants.

Sasol South Africa and Air Liquide have signed a third power purchase agreement (PPA) with Enel Green Power RSA for wind power supply to their site in Mpumalanga province.

A first cargo of liquefied natural gas has left the Litchendjili LNG terminal in Pointe-Noire, following a rapid development by Eni and national oil company SNPC.

Milele Energy – part-owner of the Lake Turkana wind farm – has been hiring as the Nairobi-headquartered IPP developer it prepares to expand its African project portfolio.

In a development that could destabilise Namibia’s electricity export initiative, industry sources have told African Energy the authorities have drastically downsized the amount of power allowed for export from 750MW to 100MW, making export-oriented independent power producers’ plants economically unviable.

Commissioning of Geometric’s 141MW Aba gas-to-power plant adds sorely-needed on-grid capacity.  Selling to its own ringfenced distribution network, Aba also points to a potential new model of vertical integration. Meanwhile, the Tinubu government’s bold macro reforms have contributed to a significant economic crisis. It is nonetheless pushing on with efforts to repay $2.16bn owed to IPPs, although some question where the money will come from, write Leonard Lawal in Lagos and Marc Howard.

Weighed down by financial and geopolitical risks, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s administration continues to push its green hydrogen (GH2) agenda - including the signing of seven new agreements. It is a risky proposition but, if schemes can be proved bankable, tens of billions of dollars of investment could transform Egypt’s economic prospects. John Hamilton looks at who is involved and where GH2 megaprojects have got to so far.

Having reached financial close on its three Koruson II projects, Anglo American/EDF JV Envusa Energy expects to start construction in H1 2024, to install combined wind and solar capacity of 520MW in South Africa’s Northern Cape.

Chinese firm Shanxi Construction is to develop a rare Eritrean utility-scale project, funded by the African Development Bank’s first energy investment in the country.

As Djibouti wakes up to the potential of geothermal and wind, and looks to the P2X potential of green hydrogen, its small and fossil-fuel dependent power sector could be on the brink of major change. An update of planned generation projects by African Energy Live Data identifies the most important plants and raises questions about how the government’s ambitious net zero ambitions can be achieved, write Camilla Nytun and John Hamilton.

Climate Fund Managers has provided capital for waste-to-energy developer Bio2Watt Energy Holdings’ biogas projects in South Africa, including expansion of the 4.8MW Bronkhorstspruit plant.

Finland’s Wärtsilä Corporation on 20 March announced the completion of a 15MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at the Iamgold Essakane mine in north-east Burkina Faso. The inauguration on 16 March was overseen by President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.Comprising nearly 130,000 solar PV panels, the plant will add to an existing 55MW heavy fuel oil plant to create what the developers describe as the largest hybrid PV-diesel plant in the world, and one of the largest solar facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

The addition of 3GW of solar power generation capacity over the next two years will be the first substantial shift in Algeria’s gas-dependent energy mix in decades – and is intended as the first step in a programme to add 15GW of solar capacity by 2035 – but coming after years of false dawns, the government’s track record raises significant doubts about whether the new vision is achievable, writes John Hamilton.

The estimated $1bn EPC deal for the Banda and Tevet fields, which hold combined estimated reserves of 2.2tcf, is the first involvement by Egyptian players in Mauritania’s upstream and marks the revival of Nouakchott’s long-held plans to supply gas to its flagship Banda Duale power plant.