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The Vienna-based Organisation for International Economic Relations and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) are providing an $800,000 grant to support a Solar Light for All initiative to supply off-grid, rural communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Solar Light for All is an initiative set up by the Austria-based Energy Globe Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Wolfgang Neumann.

Ethiopia released the second iteration of its National Electrification Programme in March, a 216-page document setting out the government’s least-cost approach to reaching universal access to power by 2025. The plan envisages 65% of customers being on-grid and 35% off-grid. Off-grid would then be phased out by 2030, leaving only 4% of the population off-grid, to be replaced by grid extension, which the government expects to be the least-cost option for all households by 2025.

French utility Engie has inaugurated its first mini-grid in Zambia. The PowerCorner mini-grid is located in the village of Chitandika, a community of 378 households in the east of the country. The grid will supply a rural health centre and two schools as well as homes and businesses. Engie aims to develop 2,000 mini-grids in Africa by 2025.

The US Power Africa initiative’s Beyond the Grid programme on 20 June closed Round II of its Off-Grid Energy Challenge – a General Electric, US Agency for International Development and US African Development Foundation initiative, offering 18 $1.8m grants to developers of off-grid and small-scale renewables projects in each of the six Power Africa countries. Winners will be announced in mid-August. Beyond the Grid aims to facilitate investment in off-grid and small-scale power projects, and is specifically targeted at providing 20m new connections for households and businesses over a five-year period; it is partnering 27 companies that have committed to investing $1bn into off-grid and small-scale solutions.

Investment advisory GreenMax Capital Advisors and merchant bank Broad Street Capital Group are pioneering a new approach to financing portfolios of off-grid projects called the GreenStreet Africa Energy Infrastructure Financing Programme. The initiative aims to allow public institutions access to low-interest financing while encouraging African governments to take on some of the risks in the sector.

The Agence Nigérienne de Promotion de l’Electrification en Milieu Rural (ANPER) is seeking expressions of interest from consultants for a project to install off-grid solar power systems as part of a national rural electrification programme financed from a $30m loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

The Islamic Development Bank has signed loan agreements totalling $51.7m to finance the last phase of Morocco’s rural electrification programme (Perg)

As well as developing the regulatory and legislative environment, the government has produced significant planning documents to guide developments in the power sector. The overarching strategy is laid out in the 207-page Angola Energia 2025, which includes demand planning, priority generation, transmission and distribution projects, energy mix scenarios and a resource atlas. Medium-term strategy is guided by the 2018-2022 Action Plan for the Energy and Water Sector.

Liberia’s Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) invites sealed bids by 25 October for the design, supply and construction of the 2.5MW Kaiha 2 small hydropower plant on the Kaiha River, near Kolahun, in Lofa County. The contract is to be financed by the World Bank under the Liberia Renewable Energy Access Project. The hydropower plant is the pilot project of the World Bank scheme, which is designed to expand access to electricity in remote areas and to promote the use of renewable energy, while reducing the use of imported fuel.

Kampala-based off-grid solar company SolarNow has closed a $9m receivables financing facility arranged by specialist debt arranger SunFunder. The facility used SunFunder’s structured asset finance instrument, with money raised from co-lenders responsAbility and Oikocredit.

Wärtsilä has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a 48MW gas power plant supplying Bua Group’s Sokoto cement plant in northern Nigeria. The plant will run primarily on liquefied natural gas (LNG) with low pour fuel oil as a back-up. Wärtsilä has been targeting the thermal market in Africa with its integrated gas power and LNG regasification technology in recent years.The power plant will supply a new cement line at the Sokoto facility using five Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines, complementing two heavy fuel oil (HFO) plants already operating at the site, which is entirely off-grid.

London-based private equity firm Helios Investment Partners led a $55m funding round in January for Off Grid Electric, a solar home system provider with Silicon Valley origins. The round, supported by General Electric Ventures and existing investors, is believed to be the biggest equity investment to date in the off-grid power sector. “As the largest private equity firm exclusively focused on Africa, energy access is a priority theme for Helios,” Helios co-founder and managing partner Tope Lawani said.

Mobisol has teamed up with West African solar distributor Baobab+ to provide pay-as-you-go solar systems in Côte d’Ivoire. A joint statement said the cooperation combined Mobisol’s strengths in provision of solar hardware and software with Baobab+’s regional experience in customer finance and distribution. Baobab+ was launched in 2015 by microfinance services provider Microcred Group, which has a network of 20 branches and 100,000 clients in Côte d’Ivoire. Mobisol will provide hardware and software, while Baobab+ will focus on sales and distribution.

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has issued a general procurement notice for the Nigeria Electrification Project, which is funded by the African Development Bank. The project has four components and bid documents are expected to be issued in April. Component one will support private sector solar hybrid mini-grids in areas with high economic growth potential through a minimum subsidy tender. The work specifically targets 105,000 households and 20,000 businesses. Some 15 mini-grid operators are likely to be procured.

Togo is embarking on a country-wide solar rural electrification programme to bring power to 293 towns and villages in the country’s five regions. Known in French as Programme de Valorisation de l’Energie Solaire, or Proves, the scheme envisages the installation of solar photovoltaic systems to electrify 293 towns and villages in the Savanes, Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime regions.