Search results

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.

A shift of donor strategy to develop the mighty Grand Inga scheme through a series of phased projects divided into investor-friendly, bite-sized chunks is intended to move plans for Africa’s biggest hydropower source closer to reality.

Many jurisdictions regard jatropha farming as a threat to food security. In mid-March, Ghanaian media reported on a study conducted by Action Aid Ghana (AAG) and FoodSPAN

The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has invited expressions of interest from consultants for work on the planned 100MW Kom Ombo concentrated solar power facility.

A new study by researchers from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, the International Renewable Energy Agency and Climate Analytics has outlined the potential for an integrated hydro-solar-wind strategy to develop West Africa’s power sector while limiting the use of gas and other fossil fuels. The results of the study, which were published in May in the scientific journal Nature Sustainability, show that pooling regional resources and planning transmission grid expansion would allow optimal exploitation of the region’s renewable potential.

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) has published a general procurement notice for the development of solar PV plants at multiple locations with combined capacity of 500MW. Zimbabwe has been planning a major renewable power procurement for some time as the country looks to end its long-running energy crisis and reduce reliance on imported power and fuel. Solar PV plants will also help Zimbabwe manage its hydropower resources, which have been hard hit by drought.

Algeria’s electricity and gas sector regulator has published the final regulation needed to allow the development of independent power projects (IPPs) in the renewables sector. On 30 November, the Commission for Regulation of Electricity and Gas (Creg) released a draft power purchase agreement for wind and solar projects. This is the culmination of a lengthy process of policy-making. Creg published the feed-in-tariff rates in April 2014 and other regulations in August 2013. Adel Baba-Aissa, director of UK-based advisory and project development company Renewable Energy Partner described the publication as “an exciting development – one that will kick-start the private IPP renewable energy market in Algeria”.

Mineworkers’ pension fund The Metal Industries Benefit Funds Administrators (Mibfa) intends to invest R1bn ($112m) in projects bidding in South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producers procurement programme. The fund will provide debt finance to 10-15 solar or wind projects, administered by asset manager Mergence Investment Managers.

South African Development Community (SADC) energy ministers met in Johannesburg on 24 July to express concern at the region’s estimated 8,247MW generation shortfall, while noting that 1,999MW had been brought on line in 2014 from new plants or rehabilitation.Of the 2014 additions, 150MW was commissioned in Angola, 150MW in Mozambique, 1,654MW in South Africa and 245MW in Zambia. Some 83% of new capacity was from renewable sources, predominantly in South Africa.

Cenpower Generation Company Limited announced the financial close of $900m of project finance for the Kpone independent power plant (IPP) at Tema on 3 October. The 350MW combined cycle gas turbine plant is due on stream in 2017 and will be energy-hungry Ghana’s largest private power scheme, accounting for some 10% of total installed capacity and 20% of available thermal generation capacity. Dutch development agency FMO contributed $200m, the rest was private equity and debt, including $425m of commercial debt raised by Rand Merchant Bank with South African export credit agency backing.

Developer Mbaye Hadj’s 30MW Gossas solar photovoltaic project has been selected in the second solar incubator run by Dubai-based developer Phanes Group. Phanes Group will take a stake in the project and work with Hadj to bring the project to financial close. “Ultimately, Mr Hadj’s project convinced the evaluation panel not only with its strong corporate social responsibility component but also with his knowledge and commitment to the region where he hails from.

Power sector regulator Agence de Régulation du Sécteur de l’Electricité (Arsel) seeks to create a shortlist of potential operators of the 2.9MW Falls 210 hydropower plant in the Mbonge district, Mémé department, in the south-west of the country.

Germany’s Voith Group and China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) signed a joint agreement in Berlin on 5 July covering the strengthening of the strategic cooperation between the two parties in promoting hydropower business in the African market. Voith and CTG have a long history of international cooperation, and the agreement also covered the delivery of two 350MW units to China’s Zhejiang Changlongshan pumped storage power station.