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The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), on behalf of the Agence Togolaise d’Electrification Rurale et des Energies Renouvelables, has invited bids by 16 November from consultants to carry out an environmental and social study for a hydropower plant and the rural electrification of Sarakawa in the Kara region of northern Togo.

The Togolese Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Agency (AT2ER) invites prequalification bids by 28 November for the development, co-financing, construction, operation and maintenance of solar PV-based mini-grids and distribution in 317 localities across the country, as well as the distribution and marketing of electricity to customers. The contracted works, which are being co-financed by the West African Development Bank and the Energy Development Fund, are divided into five lots, to be carried out in three phases.

Symbion Power and San Francisco-based Natel Energy have launched a new hydropower-based mini-grid company called MyHydro which aims to install hydropower-based mini-grids at low cost but on a large scale. MyHydro will use low-head turbine technology provided by Natel which the company claims are “the most fish-safe turbines in the world” and which require a water drop of only 2-10 metres. MyHydro aims to deploy a minimum of 150 installations with associated mini-grid infrastructure in Africa by 2025, serving around 1.5m people.

Earth Energy Ltd is inviting expressions of interest from consultants for a front-end engineering design study for a 20MW biomass project in Gulu. The contract is funded by a grant from the African Development Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa. The plant will use agricultural by-products such as rice husks, maize cobs and groundnut shells left over from crops by local farmers and processed within 150km of the site.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the African Union signed an agreement in Paris on 25 May establishing a strategic partnership to work towards a more secure, sustainable and clean energy future for African countries. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by IEA executive director Fatih Birol and African Union commissioner for infrastructure, energy, ICT and tourism Amani Abou-Zeid. The MoU provides a general framework for cooperation on activities and projects that advance shared interests in areas of energy security, energy statistics, energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable economic development.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Energy is inviting companies to prequalify for the rural electrification component of the Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (CLSG) Electricity Networks Interconnection Project. Works under the contract will include construction of 33/0.415kV distribution networks in 29 rural communities, as well as the supply, installation and commissioning of single and triple phase STS prepayment meters and distribution transformers, and supply, installation and commissioning of 4,800 street lights in the same communities.

The African Development Bank on 7 November approved a €42.3m ($48.2m) loan to support the national rural electrification programme. The loan will be disbursed over three years from 2019 and is intended to support the government’s aim of connecting all communities of more than 500 inhabitants to the grid by 2021. Three districts in the north of the country – Savanes, Woroba and Zanzan – will be connected to the grid via medium-voltage lines, giving around 260,000 people access to electricity.

Solar home systems (SHS) pioneer Mobisol has entered self-administered insolvency proceedings at the District Court of Charlottenburg in Berlin. The move announced on 18 April gives the management three months to turn the company around and conclude negotiations with prospective investors that began at the start of the year. Mobisol has been operating since 2011. The news came soon after German off-grid company Solarkiosk AG announced that it had filed for insolvency and hoped to restructure during preliminary proceedings.

Miner RioZim has engaged Japan’s Univergy to build four 25MW solar power stations to supply cheaper energy to four of its biggest mines. The Herald newspaper reported that the sites were Renco and Cam and Motor gold mines, Murowa Diamonds and the Dalny gold mine, recently acquired from Falcon Gold.

The African Development Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa has approved a $990,000 grant to support the preparation of a 9MW solar-hydro hybrid project. The project consists of two plants, the 1.07MW Ruvyi102 project in Ryansoro commune of Gitega province and the 8MW Mule037 project in Songa commune of Bururi province, each featuring a solar and a hydro component as well as a local distribution network and interconnection to the national power grid.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has approved a grant for the Ministry of Energy to carry out a feasibility study on expanding energy access to 67 communities in Afram Plains South in Ghana’s Eastern Region. The study will look at energy demand from the communities and design mini-grids to provide them with electricity. USTDA expects construction of the mini-grids to be funded by the Export-Import Bank of the United States and to be built by a US company.

The 2020 update of the Tracking SDG 7:The Energy Progress Report, published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency, the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation found that the global population without access to electricity has decreased from 1.2bn in 2010 to 789m in 2018. More than 1bn people have gained access to power over the period.

Telecoms company MTN is extending its partnership with energy and financial services firm Fenix International to launch pay-to-own solar home systems in Zambia. The Swedish embassy in Lusaka is committing SEK24.75m ($3m) to the project between now and 2020, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is contributing $750,000. Fenix expects to reach 850,000 rural Zambians by 2020 with its ReadyPay Power solar home system, which gives off-grid customers access to affordable solar power.

The South Korean government and the African Development Bank (AfDB) on 22 May signed a letter of intent to launch the Korea-Africa Energy Investment Facility to support the New Deal on Energy for Africa, which aims to achieve universal access to energy.The agreement was signed at a Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation meeting held during the AfDB’s annual meetings in Busan, South Korea. The facility will see the AfDB oversee project development with member countries using $600m provided by South Korea over a five-year period.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has begun procuring services for the first phase of its Scaling Solar programme in Niger, while the Ministry of Energy is seeking consultants to design green mini-grids. Scaling Solar aims to create the conditions for solar power development in countries with little or no experience of the technology. Niger is not formally engaged with the programme, but the WBG has initiated the first due diligence and transaction structuring phase.