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Australian junior miner AVZ Minerals on 21 January said its $500m-plus green lithium mine project at Manono would be fully supplied by the Piana Mwanga hydroelectric plant – once it has been refurbished – and would aim to achieve a number of other sustainability goals. Analysts said AVZ’s investor call, which focused on sustainability issues following a greenhouse gas assessment at the Manono lithium and tin project by Environmental Resource Management, produced an uptick in its share price as it focused on the project “as potentially having one of the lowest carbon footprints of any lithium mine across the globe”.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) on 27 January announced a Ksh 13.9bn ($126.8m) profit before tax for the year to June 2020, thanks to revenues from Olkaria V and proceeds from geothermal drilling in Ethiopia. Profit for 2018/19 was Ksh 11.6bn. In October 2019 KenGen clinched a $43.8m contract to drill 12 geothermal wells for Tulu Moye Geothermal Operations, following an earlier $69.3m agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power for drilling at Aluto-Langano.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has released details of its planned Access to Distributed Electricity and Lighting in Ethiopia (ADELE) project. The $500m International Development Association loan – which will support investment in the national grid, mini-grids, solar home systems (SHS) and standalone solar systems – is expected to be put to the board for approval later this year and will last for six years.

Mauritius-based Janus Continental Group (JCG) has invested $13m in UK-headquartered Highview Power to bring the latter’s energy storage technology to Africa. It is part of a wider $70m investment into Highview which also included commitments from Sumitomo Heavy Industries and TSK, Highview chief executive Javier Cavada told African Energy in an 18 February interview.

Off-grid developer Winch Energy has confirmed its funding for an ambitious solar mini-grid project, comprising 49 sites in Uganda and Sierra Leone. As Winch chief executive Nicholas Wrigley told African Energy in January, the funding, which comprises $100m of debt and equity, is for a new platform, Winch Energy IPP Holdings (WIPP).

Gold miner RioZim expects to start construction in August or September on solar PV plants at four of its sites, totalling 178MW of capacity. Board vice chairman Caleb Dengu told African Energy Covid restrictions had caused delays as contractors had been unable to travel to Zimbabwe until they were vaccinated. RioZim plans solar plants at the Renco gold mine in Masvingo, the Cam and Motor and Dalny gold mines in Mashonaland West, and its Murowa diamond mine in Midlands Province.

Kenya Tea Development Agency subsidiary KTDA Power Company is seeking to prequalify EPC contractors, electrical contractors and electromechanical manufacturers and suppliers for a series of small hydropower plants to supply tea processing factories and the grid under already-signed PPAs. The projects range from 0.5MW to 10MW and are at various stages of development, with four plants already operational, seven under construction and another ten under implementation, according to the tender notice.

Chariot Oil & Gas has signalled a move away from its diminishing upstream exploration business with the acquisition of renewables developer Africa Energy Management Platform, which has a strategic relationship with Total Eren.

The publication of a National Audit Office (NAO) report critical of the Nyerere Dam project could allow President  Samia Suluhu Hassan to challenge her late predecessor John Magufuli’s legacy. While the NAO’s 2018-19 Annual General Report on Development Projects, published in April 2020, neglected to mention the $2.9bn hydropower project in Unesco World Heritage Site the Selous Game Reserve, the 2019-20 edition includes 29 unflattering pages on Magufuli’s flagship project.

In a contribution to the region’s most hotly contested cross-border issue, an academic study published on 8 April in Nature Energy has argued for the coupling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) with variable solar and wind power from within the East African Power Pool (EAPP). This could overcome the conflicting interests of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over the future operation of Africa’s largest hydropower plant, the study, written by researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, the University of Bonn and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research claimed.

Sasol and Air Liquide have launched a joint initiative to procure 900MW of solar and wind generated by independent power producers to power their operations. The two companies issued a request for proposals (RfP) on 13 April for an initial 600MW to be procured this year, followed by a further 300MW.

Belgium’s Enabel has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for the design, procurement and construction of five hybrid mini-grids in Zambézia and Nampula provinces. The mini-grids are part of the second phase of Enabel’s Renewable Energy for Rural Development project, which was launched in mid-2018 and which will run until 2024.

Bui Power Authority (BPA) has commissioned the first 22.25MWp of the 250MWp Bui Solar PV farm under development beside the Bui hydropower dam. As Ghana moves ahead with its plans to increase on-grid renewables in the  solar energy mix, the 13MWp first phase of the 24MWp Kaleo PV farm will be commissioned in June.

The National Assembly (parliament) on 20 April approved a bill authorising $150m of funding from the World Bank Group (WBG)’s International Development Association (IDA) for the 130MW Kandadji hydropower plant. The WBG last June approved by the package of a $100m soft loan (with six years grace) and $50m grant to help fund the first phase of resettlement and livelihood support.

Construction of the pilot turbine at the planned Dongola Wind farm will be completed by the end of June, following some Covid-19-related delays, Sudan’s Wind Energy Project (WEP) has told African Energy. The pilot scheme is using a DW54-900kW turbine from the Netherland’s Emergya Wind Technologies and will be used as a case study for three full-scale WEP plants: Dongola (100MW), Nyala (20MW) and Red Sea (180MW).