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The African Development Bank board has approved a Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) of $100m to support the 205MW Sahofika hydropower project on the Onive River. The bank’s support will include risk mitigation to the project developers and the debt providers by supporting the payment obligations of Jiro sy Rany Malagasy, the state-owned offtaker.As well as the power plant, the project involves the construction of a 110km transmission line to the site, and construction of camp facilities and 112km of access roads.

Mozambique-based off-grid solar company SolarWorks! has agreed a $2m multi-currency debt facility organised by specialist off-grid debt firm SunFunder and US-based currency hedging company MFX Solutions. SolarWorks! will use the facility for working capital to expand its operations in the country. The company has been active in Mozambique since 2011 and recently began operating in Malawi. It provides a range of solar devices, from basic systems comprising lights and charging points to more powerful systems for small businesses and middle-income households. The facility is MFX Solutions’ first in Mozambique.

With domestic and regional power demand set to soar, Mozambique has set up its first public-private partnership to develop the giant Mphanda Nkuwa dam. Power planners are also looking to coal and gas reserves, but big ticket hydro and transmission projects still take centre stage, write David Slater and Dan Marks

The 19.2MW Liouesso dam on the Lengoué River is expected to be completed in June 2016. President Denis Sassou Nguesso visited the construction site on 13 May and told reporters he was satisfied with progress on the project, for which he laid the foundation stone in May 2012. The dam and hydropower plant are being built by China Gezhouba Group Corporation, while China Machinery Engineering Corporation is building the transmission lines. The dam is 84km from the city of Ouesso, in the northern Sangha region, and will supply Ouesso, Pokola, Ngombé, Mokeko and Ngbala.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) announced on 12 March that loan agreements had been signed for two energy projects in the Seychelles. An AED31.2m ($8.5m) loan was agreed to fund a 5MW solar photovoltaic project being developed by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) on the island of Romainville, while AED33m was allocated for a 33kV grid on the island of Mahé.

Four renewable industry associations under the South African Renewable Energy Council (Sarec) umbrella have written to the government to request that the renewable energy industry is included in the Level 4 Schedule of Services that will be allowed to resume work as the country’s lockdown is eased. South Africa has been in lockdown since 27 March to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and construction has not been allowed on power projects in the country since then.

Itezhi-Tezhi Power Corporation, a 50:50 joint venture between India’s Tata Power and national utility Zesco, has been approved for funding via the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for the 120MW Itezhi Tezhi hydroelectric power project. The plant is expected to begin operating in the next few weeks (AE 312/5) and will result in a reduction of 5,892,480 tonnes of CO2 over the ten-year crediting period. Itezhi-Tezhi was registered for CDM in September 2015 and SGS United Kingdom undertook the validation process.

The Agence du Barrage de Kandadji invites prequalification bids by 5 July for the construction of a double-circuit 132kV transmission line between the Kandadji hydropower station and Niamey, as well as a new high-voltage substation at Gorou Banda.

While renewables projects in North Africa have been making progress – led by Moroccan solar development agency Masen’s 125MW first concentrated solar power phase of the 500MW Ouarzazate scheme – the most highly publicised, ambitious scheme of all, the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii), is struggling to convince sceptics it can revolutionise patterns of electricity generation south of the Mediterranean and of supply within the European Union area.

The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is seeking a legal and financial adviser for a project to develop a 200MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez. The company will advise on negotiations with private sector stakeholders who will be equity holders in a joint-stock company alongside the NREA. The adviser will produce documents relating to the establishment of the project company and all associated legal and regulatory texts, assess the financial implications of the company’s proposed shareholding structure and advise on financial structure and operation. Bids are due by 24 May.

There have been too many false dawns as South Africa realities have failed to live up to the rhetoric of electricity supply industry liberalisation or diversification into renewables, but the 53 bids received by the Department of Energy (DoE) in the first round of bidding to build renewable power plants have raised hopes that major privately financed wind and solar projects will finally go ahead

The government of Liberia and the European Union (EU) signed a €18.5m ($21.5m) contract with Lagos-based MBH Power Ltd on 9 August to design and build 66kV overhead lines and extend the existing electricity substations around Monrovia, at Bushrod, Kru Town, Capitol, Congo Town and Paynesville.

UK-based off-grid utility BBOXX announced on 20 August that it has launched a pilot to provide the internet to customers in Rwanda. The company is using Wi-Fi hotspots established through a joint venture with Axiom Networks. Ten fixed hotspots have been established, powered using BBOXX solar systems, which are able to deliver internet in rural areas at 10-20Mbps.

London headquartered off-grid solar company BBOXX announced on 23 October that it has agreed a $5m loan facility with Essential Capital Consortium, a $50m social enterprise fund managed by Deutsche Asset Management that closed in March 2015. The loan will be used to expand the company’s operations in Rwanda. The loan facility will be managed by Atlas Mara’s Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR), which has a relationship with BBOXX.

The High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN) has invited prequalification bids by 19 July from equipment suppliers for the 130MW Kandadji hydropower plant on the Niger River, and by 20 July from consultants to provide project management services for the construction of a 132kV double-circuit transmission line between the plant and Niamey.The equipment contract, part financed by the World Bank’s International Development Association and the Agence Française de Développement, involves the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of equipment for the plant as well as the training of its operating staff.