Search results

The risk that almost 11GW of planned sub-Saharan power generation capacity will be shelved if Beijing carries through on one of its more public climate change pledges, to end state financing of overseas coal projects, underlines the extent Chinese policy impacts on African economies. In the run-up to a COP26 meeting, where superpower posturing may overwhelm efforts to achieve global consensus, Chinese policy on foreign projects, military expansion and huge debts are examined by Marc Howard, Ajay Ubhi and Jon Marks

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has made sweeping changes to the leadership of Tanzania’s energy sector in the post-Magufuli period but macroeconomic, political and legislative obstacles to deeper change will remain for some time, writes Dan Marks.

The pioneering Ghoubet wind IPP, which is nearing completion, will bolster Djibouti’s grid and supply electricity to an associated desalination project, in a pilot project that may point towards a potentially huge Power-to-X offtake demand.

Proparco, the private sector subsidiary of Groupe Agence Française de Développement (AFD), is investing $6m in E3 Capital’s Nairobi-headquartered Low Carbon Economy Fund.

South Africa’s $8.5bn Just Energy Transition Partnership is starting to take shape, with Eskom committing to decommission more than 20GW of coal by 2035 and promising more than $6.3bn to be invested in transmission upgrades. But there are also concerns about the direction of travel as the government separately considers adding new coal and gas capacity.

The addition of Senegal to the list of countries negotiating a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 counterparties is an important diplomatic achievement for those countries in the developed world striving to keep the concept of just transition alive. It would have been difficult for the just transition concept to maintain its claims to moral credibility – that it is a viable route to justice in climate finance – if it could not find even one more African partner to sign up for a JETP.

Despite fierce resistance from many resource-rich, infrastructure-poor African governments, 34 countries and five development banks committed to ending external funding for fossil fuel projects at the Cop26 summit. Dan Marks and African Energy staff ask whether the writing really is on the wall for natural gas projects

African delegations are meeting in a massive and not yet fully prepared conference venue several days before COP26 officially opens, writes John Hamilton in Glasgow. The pre-sessional meeting of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) is attempting once again to get the continent’s priority issues onto the global agenda, a few days before G20 leaders gather in Rome for what, in part, will be a pre-COP 26 assembly of developed nations and leading emerging markets.

Norwegian and UK development finance institutions (DFIs) are backing black-owned renewables developer H1 Capital with ZAR600m ($40m) to help fund an expected pipeline of 2.4GW of wind and solar projects in South Africa.

Nigeria’s pledge of achieving net-zero by 2060, driven by the increased use of its gas resource and the assent of a new climate bill, is likely to require huge amounts of financing. But as developed nations turn their back on fossil fuels the plan could face a funding impasse.

The signing of a land agreement for a 10GW wind project by Masdar, Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities is a major step forward for one of the huge renewable energy projects announced last year at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh.

The agreement for Senegal to become only the second African economy to secure a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) has the potential to salvage the climate financing framework’s credibility, which appeared to be flatlining.

All of Kenyan President William Ruto’s personal energy, facility with words, public charm and ruthless cultivation of influential allies was on show at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, with a very hands-on performance as host of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) on 4-6 September.

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to extend $1.3bn to Rabat under its resilience and sustainability facility, to support renewables and energy efficiency schemes, and to strengthen Morocco’s resilience against natural disasters. It comes just ahead of the IMF and World Bank Group annual meetings, which are going ahead as scheduled in Marrakech on 9-15 October.

A Dubai-based company backed by a well-connected but relatively low-profile member of Dubai’s ruling Al-Maktoum family has been signing deals across Africa to generate carbon credits – generating some controversy in the process.