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A cabinet meeting on 8 January approved a loan of $286m from the Export-Import Bank of China for the 112MW Gribo-Popoli hydro project on the Sassandra River. The loan agreement was signed on 9 October 2019. “This project, planned for the Sassandra River downstream from the Soubré dam site, will increase the share of hydroelectric power generation in the generation fleet by 112MW of power and 580GWh of output.

President Alassane Dramane Ouattara was on hand to inaugurate the 275MW Soubré hydroelectric power plant on 2 November, reflecting the priority given by his government to infrastructure development and marking another step in Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to raise its installed generation capacity to 4GW by 2020. The following day saw a three-hour nationwide blackout, but many Ivorians would still agree that delivery on projects, as well as some adroit political manoeuvring, has helped to consolidate Ouattara’s hold on a volatile polity.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is launching a new commercial debt fund to lend to small renewable energy projects. The fund will invest in projects with total costs less than $30m and target off-grid, mini-grid, and small-scale renewable energy independent power producers. Funding is expected to be raised from development finance institutions and bilateral aid agencies as well as impact, commercial and institutional investors. The AfDB with be the anchor investor in the fund through its private sector unit. A fund management service provider is being sought to manage loans, investments and divestments from the facility under the guidance of an investment committee.

Africa is expected to be a driver of global growth in coming decades, but its nature will be different from that predicted when emerging markets boomed and investors saw an escape from stagnant developed economies in apparently untapped markets. A realistic view is that there are likely to be more pockets of prosperity around the continent, and economies such as China will continue to grow, albeit less quickly. But how to plan for the future in a deeply uncertain environment?

Rehabilitation and repowering of the Nkula A hydropower plant on the Shire River is to begin in June, the newly established state power producer Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (Egenco) has announced. The upgrading works, which are scheduled to be completed by July 2018, will add 12MW to the current installed capacity of 24MW and extend the operating lifespan of the 50-year-old run-of-river station.

With the Kariba dam only a quarter full and a generation shortfall of around 420MW at peak times – around 25% of total demand – the government is under pressure to tackle the country’s power crisis. Dora Siliya was appointed to the new post of energy and water development minister in October and more than 100MW of emergency power is being supplied by Aggreko from Mozambique. Zesco senior manager for budgets Chiti Mataka told the UK-Zambia Trade and Investment Forum in London on 4 November that 300MW is expected from the Maamba coal power project in Q1 2016.

Symbion Power and San Francisco-based Natel Energy have launched a new hydropower-based mini-grid company called MyHydro which aims to install hydropower-based mini-grids at low cost but on a large scale. MyHydro will use low-head turbine technology provided by Natel which the company claims are “the most fish-safe turbines in the world” and which require a water drop of only 2-10 metres. MyHydro aims to deploy a minimum of 150 installations with associated mini-grid infrastructure in Africa by 2025, serving around 1.5m people.

South African chemicals and energy giant Sasol on 14 May issued a request for information on the development of around 600MW of renewable energy. In its first Climate Change Report released in October, Sasol committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10% by 2030, using 2017 as the baseline. It is now looking to identify potential partners to supply power as IPPs through a power purchase agreement. Sasol generates 728MW using coal and 375MW using gas at its plants in Sasolburg and Secunda.

The need to find alternative sources of energy to satisfy unsustainable growth in electric power consumption has boosted official interest in renewable energy projects. In recent months, a number of ministers in the outgoing interim government – which tendered its resignation to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on 9 June – have announced important renewables initiatives with $1bn of investment potentially on the table. Whether Sisi, who was inaugurated in early June, has the vision and political determination to push through unpopular reforms in domestic energy markets is still unknown. He made almost no reference to economic policy during the election campaign.

The government held a meeting with financing partners on 12 July in Niamey to discuss measures to revive the Kandadji hydropower and irrigation project, which was delayed by cancellation of the original construction contract for non-performance. The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Brigi Rafini, brought together representatives of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, the Agence Française de Développement, the Opec Fund for International Development, the Niger Basin Authority, the Saudi Development Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Ecowas Bank for Investment and Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

The government of Angola, through the Ministry of Energy and Water, has invited expressions of interest from consultants by 1 March to carry out a review of the regulatory and institutional framework of the renewable energy sector for the establishment of a competitive procurement programme for independent power producers (IPPs). The contract will be financed from a $1m grant from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.

Botswana Power Corporation has issued a request for proposals relating to the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of 12 solar photovoltaic power projects. The tender notice offered no details, but tender documents are available from Botswana Power Corporation’s procurement office on payment of 1,500 pula ($143). Bids are due by 29 March.Contact: Botswana Power Corporation, Procurement Office, Plot 1222, Nkrumah Road, Light Industrial Site, Gaborone, [email protected]. Tel: +267 3603239/446.

The Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariff (Get FiT) Zambia secretariat has announced the award of six solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with combined capacity of 120MW. The first Get FiT round to be held in Zambia had been targeting 100MW from solar projects of 20MW or smaller, but the low prices bid in the tender led the Get FiT Zambia investment committee, in coordination with the Zambian government, to award a further 20MW. The projects are expected to generate around 360GWh/yr.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in January announced it had joined HSBC Bank Egypt in a total $100m commitment to support independent exploration and development company Improved Petroleum Recovery (IPR). The EBRD said the facility was “intended to facilitate IPR’s near-term growth strategy”, and had been “structured with an accordion feature to allow additional commitments”. It expected IPR to invest in enhanced oil recovery and other technologies, and to participate in growth opportunities including upcoming bid rounds.

The Moroccan subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering SA has been awarded a US-funded contract to build four solar photovoltaic plants with a combined installed capacity of 46MW (equal to 20% of peak demand), transmission lines, substations and a dispatch centre, the Casablanca daily L’Economiste reported. Jacobs is carrying out the work under the US Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $403m Millennium Challenge Account-Benin II 2017-2022 (MCA-Benin).After years of power shortages, the government is focusing on increasing domestic generation capacity with the aim of ending imports by 2021.