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Commercial and industrial power developer CrossBoundary Energy said on 8 November it was working with Bank of America to explore opportunities with development finance institutions to structure a blended finance loan facility.

Electricity to supply Syrah Resources’ Twigg/Balama graphite project in Mozambique has been provided by 15.4MW of diesel generation capacity, but in December 2020 the Australian company signed a memorandum of understanding with Solarcentury to develop an 11.25MWp solar PV and 8.5MW/MWh battery storage facility.

South Africa’s Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) has approved the development of 30MWac of solar PV capacity at two of its sites in Matabeleland. A 10MWac plant will be situated at Coleen Bawn near Gwanda and a 20MWac plant will be built near the Bulawayo quarry.

Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT), a subsidiary of Thai Union Group, is to install a solar PV plant at its Mahe factory. The plant is being developed by Gridworks subsidiary SPS, formerly known as Mettle Solar.

Growing electricity demand, chiefly in booming Democratic Republic of Congo mines, is expected to underpin Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC)’s recovery after a tumultuous period . But the sluggish performance at the debt-laden Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines threatens CEC’s resurgence.

Starsight Energy, Nigeria’s largest solar commercial and industrial (C&I) developer, has commissioned an 876kWp solar PV system for the Nile University of Nigeria campus in Abuja.

The global take-off of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) is driving an evolution in contracts across the supply chain as companies push to achieve environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, writes Dan Marks.

Energy minister Neïla Gongi’s approval of ten small-scale auto-consumption solar PV projects with connections to the medium-voltage grid is another demonstration that technocrats are determined to press ahead with renewable power development, despite the considerable political obstacles caused by President Kaïs Saïed’s constitutional coup and obstructive labour unions at state utility Steg, who have blocked projects including Eni’s AFD-financed Tataouine PV plant.

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.

US player West Africa LNG has a $300m deal to build a liquefied natural gas import and distribution terminal to supply gas to power-hungry miners and to-be-developed alumina processing facilities in a country where previous efforts to expand the grid have faltered and significant additional generation capacity will be required to develop alumina processing at scale. Chaired by a former US ambassador to Guinea, WALNG has yet to expand on financing and other critical details.

London Stock Exchange-quoted Centamin, owner of the Sukari gold mine near Marsa Alam on Egypt's Red Sea Coast, has announced plans to increase the capacity of its 30MW solar PV plant.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)-listed miner Global Atomic Corporation (GAC) has outlined the anticipated project milestones and time frame for its $208m Dasa uranium mine project in Niger’s Tchirozérine commune.  The project includes a planned grid-connected hybrid power plant with battery energy storage, constructed under a build-own-operate model.

Madagascar’s pivot to renewable energy is gathering steam, with hydropower capacity set to triple and on-grid solar to double by the end of the decade. The displacement of expensive and polluting thermal capacity should help to rebalance the economy and expand electricity access rates which are among the world’s lowest, writes Marc Howard.

Electricity projects supplying commercial and industrial customers had a total capacity of 5.9GW as of Q1 2023, analysis of the latest information on the African Energy Live Data platform shows – and that is almost certainly a substantial under-estimate. With companies in many countries, led by South Africa and Nigeria, looking to overcome weaknesses in their national grid supply, projects at various stages of planning are expected to add at least a further 1.5GW by 2025 – and probably more, as investors seek comfort in C&I supply.

Taqa Arabia will sell the power from its 20MW Sharm El Sheikh solar PV plant to customers of its own Global Energy distribution company. The project shows it is possible to build substantial renewable energy projects under regulator EgyptERA’s auto-generation rules. It has also stimulated positive headlines about the greening of the Red Sea tourism city in advance of COP27.