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Addax Bioenergy’s Makeni project in Sierra Leone has been registered as a clean development mechanism (CDM) project with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the first project in Sierra Leone to do so. 
The $300m complex, which consists of a sugarcane estate, a bioethanol refinery and a biomass fuelled cogeneration facility, has been criticised by local and international lobby groups.

The World Bank Group on 30 September approved a $519m package for the 350MW second phase of the Noor-Ouarzazate concentrated solar power (CSP) project. The 160MW first phase is being developed by Saudi company Acwa Power. The financing package comprises $400m from the World Bank and $119m from the Clean Technology Fund. Phase II involves the construction of two separate power plants: 150MW-200MW Noor II, a parabolic trough CSP facility, and 100MW-150MW Noor III, a CSP tower. Land has been acquired for both plants.

State-owned utility Régie de Production et Distribution d’Eau et d’Electricité (Regideso) has launched an international tender to connect the Rusumo Falls hydropower plant on the Kagera River to the national grid. Bids are sought by 4 December for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of a 220kV line linking the Rusumo Falls plant via the northern city of Muyinga to the central city of Gitega, a 30kV line between Musasa and Muyinga, and substations at Gitega and Muyinga.

Solar off-grid company Distributed Power Africa (DPA) has announced the signing of a contract with solar PV panels and components manufacturer Canadian Solar for the supply of PV technology to be used in hybrid products for the African market. The deal is expected to help DPA, part of the Econet Group, to provide panels with a combined capacity of 25MW to clients across mostly Southern Africa for large industrial sites, the company said.

The Ministry of Energy is inviting prequalification bids for four solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed by independent power producers as part of the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)-backed power sector development compact. The five-year $403m compact – funded with $375m from the MCC and $28m from the Benin government – has been active since 22 June 2017 and is the largest of several programmes backed by development finance institutions which are moving forward in the country.

Investors led by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation have made a $26m investment in UK pay-as-you-go solar company Azuri Technologies. Azuri, which has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, said the capital infusion would enable it to accelerate expansion in existing sub-Saharan Africa markets and roll out its solar lighting, TV and additional services into new markets. Azuri has sold more than 150,000 solar home systems and has adopted a comparatively cautious approach to building its business.

Off-grid solar company BBOXX announced on 13 January that Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), part of Old Mutual Alternative Investments, has agreed an investment of $31m to acquire a minority stake in BBOXX’s operating companies in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Rwanda. The investment was made by AIIM’s African Infrastructure Investment Fund 3 and will allow the BBOXX companies to install 2m solar systems by 2022. AIIM chief executive Jurie Swart said the deal reflected the maturity of the off-grid sector as well as BBOXX’s ambition.

State utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has finally opened bids for 850MW of power to be generated at five sites, a key element in the Integrated Wind Energy Programme (PIEE), which aims to generate 2GW by 2020. Decisions on the 850MW element (tender no SP 40 311) have been delayed while ONEE has put together financing and bidders have contested some of the tough conditions requested for the build-own-operate-transfer scheme. These include the call for local manufacturing to be included in bids, notably from small and medium-size companies, along with technology transfer.

Faced with a fuel bill that has risen to a projected MD64bn ($8.7bn) this year from MD27bn in 2004, Morocco is looking to increase the role of renewable energy in the country’s generation mix.

Construction got under way in March at a 10MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project near Mariental, one of four being developed in Namibia by Evolution Africa’s Manna Renewables, all of which are expected online in August. The project was initially developed by Israel’s FK Generators until Manna Renewables purchased a 79% stake in mid-2017, alongside Beta Energy, a company owned by a group of Namibian women. Evolution Africa is a private equity and financial advisory business focused on the infrastructure and renewable energy markets in Africa.

Prequalification closed at Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings Ltd (KTDA) on 1 October for engineering, procurement and construction contractors for three hydroelectric plants at Tindinyo (6.6MW), Kipsonoi (3MW) and Nyambunde (2.1MW). Proposals were also due from consultants to carry out studies looking at the technical, financial and economic feasibility of solar PV facilities at KTDA tea factories.

Construction is under way on Namibia’s first utility-scale solar power plant. The 4.5MW facility is being developed by independent power producer Omburu Sun Energy Ltd on 16 hectares of land in Omburu, north-west of Windhoek. Germany’s Cronimet Mining Power Solutions is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. The plant is expected to sell 11,075MWh each year to NamPower for 25 years under a power purchase agreement signed in December 2013. It will connect to the national grid at the Omburu substation, less than 1km from the project site, and is expected to begin commercial operation in February 2015.

The European Investment Bank has started the formal appraisal process for a potential €100m ($135m) loan to the 300MW Lake Turkana wind project in Kenya. The project will also receive further backing from the African Development Bank, which has confirmed to African Energy that it will provide partial risk guarantees (PRGs) to the project and that it is in negotiations with the Kenyan government with an announcement expected later this month.

Officials have developed an impressive roster of hydropower projects to provide electricity to Cameroon’s three regional grids and, eventually, to neighbouring countries. As shown in the map below, the government has authorised some 24 power projects with more than 4,000MW installed capacity. These

The Brussels-based Global Wind Energy Council sees installed wind power capacity growing rapidly over the next five years to reach 13GW in 2019. In a report released to mark Global Wind Day on 15 June, the industry organisation said the African market had reached nearly 1,000MW of installed capacity for the first time in 2014. GWEC expects it to comfortably exceed 1GW in 2015, and continue growing. “We project total installations of a bit more than 13GW in the region through 2019,” the report said.