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Dutch cooperative and social investor Oikocredit will invest $1.5m to boost energy access in rural communities.

The second phase of the Sierra Leone mini-grids project being undertaken by Winch Energy is expected to be completed in the coming months, according to vice president for business development Chris Kanani.

A move towards independent power transmission schemes being allowed to wheel power to private clients could prove a boon for commercial and industrial (C&I) developers. Panellists at the 20 September AIX Kenya roundtable predicted the environment will now become more favourable, following the election victory of William Ruto, after years when “we saw the government and utility push back on the C&I space owing to its revenue implications”.

With elections coming up on 8 May, the power crisis in South Africa has peaked at an inconvenient time for President Cyril Ramaphosa. While opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance, are seeking to make political capital out of the catastrophic deterioration in technical and financial performance at Eskom, there are also concerns that no substantial policy measures are likely until after the elections. This could have implications for policies such as the unbundling of transmission, where the government had aimed to appoint directors for a new entity around mid-year.

The multi-donor Universal Energy Facility has issued a Wave 2 tender for mini-grid projects in Democratic Republic of Congo, while results are awaited on its call for bids in Madagascar and Sierra Leone.

The Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology (KIAT) is to invest $12.4m in four solar PV mini-grid projects in Nigeria, under a deal signed with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

New financing for West Africa-focused hybrid solar PV project developer Daystar Power underlines the extent that commercial and industrial (C&I) markets are gaining traction with development finance institutions (DFIs) and others. Daystar Power has completed a $38m series B funding round led by Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries and including French impact infrastructure fund Stoa, French DFI Proparco – backed by a guarantee from the European Union under the African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility (ARE Scale-Up) – and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

President Cyril Ramaphosa used his state of the nation address to set out measures the government is taking to combat the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, with energy close to the top of the list of priorities. New procurement may finally get under way soon, writes Dan Marks

Africa’s largest off-grid solar company Greenlight Planet has raised $90m of new financing as early Q3 figures show revenue has already surpassed Q1 levels despite the coronavirus pandemic. Further equity raisings are planned to fund the company’s expansion ambitions, writes Dan Marks

Mineral resources, green technology and energy security minister Lefoko Maxwell Moagi on 4 November launched a programme allowing the owners of rooftop solar PV to sell power to the grid. The government has allocated 10MW to the scheme during its first year, with 2MW reserved for residential customers and the remainder allocated to commercial and industrial consumers.

The World Bank Group board on 17 September approved $150m from the International Development Association (IDA) and $10m grant from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme for the $288m Energy Access and Quality Improvement Project in Rwanda. The IDA financing includes a $75m loan and $75m grant.

Outgoing Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter has argued for increased support to exploit the potential for rooftop PV, other C&I power and solar home systems to help South Africa overcome its chronic electricity supply deficit. De Ruyter said up to 10GW of rooftop solar could be added by 2030 – but that depends on investors getting more incentives in a sector where government has previously been of limited support.

Niger's Ministry of Energy and Renewable Energies has confirmed the timeframe for commissioning 3MWp of off-grid solar photovoltaic capacity at ten sites across the country. An initial 3MWp is already operational at five isolated, state-owned thermal plants. While the 6MWp addition is relatively small for many markets, it represents a significant increase for one of Africa’s poorest countries. African Energy takes a closer look at the projects and the impact they could have on energy access in Niger.

On 25 May, Niger’s Ministry of Energy and Renewable Energies (known by its French acronym Meer) said the 1.7MW Dirkou solar-diesel hybrid power plant, with 2.8MWh of battery storage, had been commissioned.