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A €115m loan for the New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is under appraisal at the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance a 200MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez.The loan represents 31.9% of the total cost of the plant, estimated at €360m. The government aims to increase wind energy’s share of total generation capacity to 12% by 2020, and the NREA prequalified 28 wind power projects in January.

Algeria’s plans for developing more solar capacity for domestic use are advanced. Although the impact of proposed projects on total installed capacity will be slight, the targets are substantial.

UK-based miner Hummingbird Resources has signed a co-operation agreement with IFC InfraVentures and Aldwych International to develop a 20-30MW hydropower plant in south-east Liberia. The project aims to reduce operating costs for the company’s Dugbe 1 gold project as well as providing power for the surrounding region and, in particular, the town of Greenville, the Alternative Investment Market-listed company said in a stock exchange filing on 7 April.

French developer Urbasolar Group launched construction of a 30MWp solar PV plant at Pâ in the Boucle du Mouhoun region in a ceremony on 1 February. The plant is being developed as a public-private partnership between the government, Urbasolar, and local partner PPS. The plant will cover an area of 35 hectares and is expected to produce 51.7GWh/yr, supplying the towns of Pâ, Wona, Houndé, Yaramoko and Boromo. Construction is expected to take ten months.

Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) expects to invite prequalification applications for the design, supply and installation of a 25MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) park at Illoulofin in the commune of Pobé in southern Benin by May 2018. The contract also requires assistance with the operation and maintenance of the project for a period of three years and training of SBEE staff.

The West African Power Pool (WAPP) General Secretariat invites expressions of interest by 2 October from consulting firms to provide technical assistance for the optimisation of the 88MW Mount Coffee hydropower plant. All four 22MW units at the refurbished plant on the Saint Paul River were synchronised with the grid in May 2017, marking the return to full operation of the run-of-river station for the first time since 1990, when it was largely destroyed during the country’s civil war.

China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) has given France’s Alstom group electromechanical and technical services contracts worth €50m ($54m) for the 700MW Zungeru hydroelectric power project. Alstom will provide four 175MW Francis turbine generator sets and related equipment and carry out equipment design, manufacturing, supervision of installation, commissioning, testing and site services via its subsidiary Alstom Hydro China. The project on the middle and upper portions of the Kaduna River will be owned by the government, and will be Nigeria’s largest hydropower plant when completed.

Much remains to be done to improve levels of energy access and public services in many countries, but Southern Africa’s generation capacity is undoubtedly growing, according to African Energy Live Data. The new figures – extrapolated from Live Data’s 1,218 detailed entries for the region – show that on-grid generation capacity will have increased by 50% in the decade to 2020 if the potential of the project pipeline reported on the database is fulfilled.

Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) has selected a consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles, in association with Mitsui & Co, as preferred bidder for the 150MW Taza wind project.

The European Investment Bank on 10 September agreed a loan of €75m ($100m) to Eskom to finance the construction of a 100MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant near Upington, in the Northern Cape. The project is also receiving funding from the African Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, the Clean Technology Fund, Germany’s KfW and the World Bank.

In a continuing reshuffle of parastatal heads and other senior posts by the outgoing prime minister, Youssef Chahed, his Tahya Tounès party ally Leila Ouled Ali Bahri is to become head of Steg Energies Renouvelables (ER), the renewables affiliate of state utility Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz. Created in 2010 to promote solar projects, Steg ER has public and a few private sector shareholders, not all of whom are said to be happy with Chahed’s last-minute ‘political’ appointment.

France’s Eranove Group in partnership with Gabon’s state investment fund Fonds Gabonais d’Investissements Stratégiques (FGIS) invites expressions of interest by 30 April from engineering firms to prepare detailed design studies and assist with the project management for the Dibwangui hydropower project on the Louetsi River in the south-eastern region of Ngounié. The low-head project, with an estimated installed capacity of around 15MW, is to be developed by Eranove on a build-own-operate-transfer basis under a 30-year concession signed with FGIS in October 2016.

Off-grid solar company BBOXX and General Electric (GE) announced the launch of a partnership in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 25 September. BBOXX expanded into the country earlier this year, forming a partnership with Victron Energy to supply larger solar systems to businesses in Goma as well as trialling mini-grids. In June, BBOXX signed an agreement with the government to roll out 300,000-400,000 solar systems over five years.

The Ministry of Energy has signed an implementing agreement with German renewables developer infinity-E for the engineering, procurement and construction of a 6MW solar photovoltaic power plant at Newton, in the Western Area, some 38km east of Freetown. The project site lies along the route of the power line from the Bumbuna dam, and power will be supplied to the capital, though there are also plans to supply the town, named after the 18th century British campaigner for abolition of the slave trade John Newton.

Zimbabwean firm Associated Consultants in Africa (Ascon Africa) has confirmed to African Energy that it has signed a contract to conduct the environmental impact assessment for the 30MW Gairezi hydroelectric power project in Nyanga, Zimbabwe.