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The 46MW Nkhotakota solar PV project has begun construction, following a ground-breaking ceremony in early April for the 26MW first phase in Malawi’s central region. Financing for the second 20MW phase is already lined up. The project was awarded to Phanes Group, ResponsAbility Renewable Energy and Natsons in a competitive bidding process.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has successfully drilled the first well on Tulu Moye geothermal project and has begun drilling a second well, according to a mid-April statement. The five-phase project is expected to eventually generate 520MW.

Independent power producer (IPP) Southern Energy is targeting Q3 2021 to install the first 25MW at a solar plant in Hwange district near Victoria Falls. Southern Energy chairman Barry Nyabonda told African Energy this first phase will begin feeding the grid from around August; further phases are planned which will expand the capacity fourfold.

The off-grid 0.25MWp solar PV plant with a 1MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (Bess) developed by South Africa’s BlueNova Energy at Timbila Nature Reserve in Namibia’s Erongo region is now online. Blue Nova chief executive James Verster told African Energy the plant’s power is being used to construct a tourism site in the 25,000ha wildlife reserve.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was hit hard by the pandemic but there are indications that the region will recover some of the lost ground in 2021. Live Data has already confirmed more than 1.8GW of new capacity has come online this year, although 900MW of this was in South Africa.

With the start of operations in late May at the 35MW Kahone and 25MW Kael solar PV projects in Senegal, most of the early schemes under the World Bank Group’s Scaling Solar programme are now operating AE 439/17. More are planned around the continent, but the WBG’s International Finance Corporation says it is also looking at ways to replicate the programme for wind energy and mini-grids

The developers behind the 40MWac Khoumagueli solar PV project have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Electricité de Guinée (EDG). The state utility’s first grid-tied solar project is designed to complement EDG’s nearby 75MW Garafiri hydroelectric power plant, helping to offset the impact of fluctuating rainfall on hydropower generation.

German development bank KfW has said the Kikagati hydropower plant on the Kagera River, on the border between Uganda and Tanzania, is due online by year-end. KfW has provided a $12.3m tariff top-up for the project through its Global Energy Transfer Feed in Tariff programme that launched in Uganda in 2013 AE 388/7.

Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL) on 30 May announced the commissioning date for the 600MW Karuma hydropower project had been further delayed, this time to 22 June 2022. The delay was attributed by UEGCL to faults in installed electromechanical systems.

RP Global and OOLU on 24 June announced the launch of a new commercial and industrial (C&I) joint venture solar company called Westa.Solar. The company has already completed its first project, a 500kW solar PV hybrid system for Petrichor Industries in Kano State, Nigeria.

Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (Bera) has issued a licence to the local Shumba Energy for the 100MW Tati Solar plant, which is set to be developed in two 50MW phases.

The need to preserve land was one of the reasons put forward by Bui Power Authority deputy chief executive Anthony Osafo-Kissi for the development of the continent’s first floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) and co-located solar plant. A 1MW pilot project on the Bui reservoir was commissioned in Q1 2021, along with the first 50MWp tranche of an eventual 250MWp ground-mounted scheme beside the dam.

The 11MWp solar PV plant at the Mwale Medical and Technology City (MMTC) in Butere, Kakamega county, Kenya will be commissioned this September, MMTC told African Energy Live Data.

The 40MWac Nkhotakota solar PV plant in Malawi is on track to reach financial close later this year or early next year, in time to start operating in Q4 2022.

The São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) government expects to release two national action plans in September with the support of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) to raise its renewable energy (RE) rate, which is now about 5%. The Action Plan for Renewable Energy and National Plan for Efficient Energy Systems are intended to support the government’s aim to achieve 50% renewable energy generation by 2030.