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The rehabilitated Nkula A hydropower plant on the Shire River was commissioned in a ceremony on 1 November making the completion of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Malawi Compact. The successful rehabilitation of Nkula A was a major component of the compact. The plant was originally commissioned in 1966 and was no longer running at full capacity.

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has awarded Liberia a $23.25m grant to develop a 9.8MW hydropower plant at Gbedin Falls on the St John River in Nimba County. The project, to be implemented by the African Development Bank (AfDB), will be funded by the CIF’s Scaling-up Renewable Energy Programme.A bank spokesman told African Energy that technical feasibility studies for the project had been completed, and work was under way to finalise the environmental and social impact assessment.

Export-Import Bank of China has signed a $500m soft loan agreement with the government to finance construction of the long-mooted 275MW Soubré hydropower project. Chinese ambassador Zhang Guoqing told reporters the loan was the biggest agreed between China and Côte d’Ivoire in over 30 years.

An international call for expressions of interest (EoIs) has been issued for work to prepare for the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant project

The Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB) has given Germany’s Voith Hydro a €22m ($25m) contract for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the 65MW Nangbeto hydropower plant on the Mono River, which forms the border between the two states. The project aims to extend the plant’s operation for at least another 30 years and to modernise its facilities, Voith announced on 13 February. The order includes refurbishment of the generators, cavitation inspection of the turbines and replacement of the blades as well as the rehabilitation of the cooling system.

Rusumo Power Company Limited (RPCL) invites expressions of interest by 14 May from consulting firms to assist with the development of a business plan. The 80MW Rusumo Falls run-of-river project, which is being built on the Kagera River along Rwanda’s border with Tanzania, just downstream of the tri-point where the two countries share a border with Burundi, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020. Output is to be shared equally between the three neighbours.

Power developer Access Infra Africa on 10 November signed a joint development agreement with Nigeria’s Quaint Global Energy Solutions to invest in a 50MW solar power plant being developed in Kaduna State. The $100m Abiba solar project will generate 82,500MWh of clean electricity, enough to satisfy the daytime requirement of over 600,000 households.

The first independent power project (IPP) in Egypt since 1999 is likely to be a 250MW wind project in the Gulf of Suez which was awarded to France’s Engie (formerly GDF Suez) last year and will be formally signed in March. Next in line is likely to be the first 1,200MW phase of Benchmark Power International (BPI)’s combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) project in the Nile Delta, which is not far from financial close after securing backing from Abraaj Group with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB, see Power).

The National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) invites prequalification bids by 10 February for the design, supply, installation, and operation and maintenance of a solar PV plant with capacity of 15-20MW with battery energy storage at Jambur in the West Coast Region. The project, to be developed within the framework of the Gambia Electricity Restoration and Modernisation Project, is being co-financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank.

Italy’s Eni has unveiled plans to build a 20MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) park near the Northern Region capital of Tamale. Eni is also exploring the feasibility of developing a floating solar park in the Volta Basin, the company said in a news release on 3 November. The projects were discussed, along with the Integrated Oil & Gas Development Project in the Offshore Cape Three Points Block, at a meeting between President Nana Akufo-Addo and Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi.

Burkina Faso has embarked on the most aggressive biofuels programme in West Africa.

The government’s ambitious plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to supply new power plants across northern and central Morocco is part of a wider strategy to develop a sustainable, diversified and secure energy mix, led by a project to install 2GW of solar and 2GW of wind capacity by 2020. Officials say that adding coal and gas baseload is essential not just for energy security and industrial development, but also to enlarge state utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE)’s grid, which by 2020 will have to carry much greater amounts of renewable energy.

Private equity firms Actis and Amaya Capital are launching a new investment company with equity capital of $500m divided between them to develop up to 3GW of baseload gas and hydroelectric power in Africa. The deal confirms that Actis is re-emerging as a more proactive developer following the transfer last year of its equity in generation company Globeleq to development finance institution investors Norfund and CDC Group. In the first stage of the transaction, Amaya Actis has closed the purchase of American Capital Energy and Infrastructure (ACEI)’s 43.5% holding in Azura Power Holdings Ltd (APH).

The 2014-2019 five-year plan approved by parliament on14 April lists five new dams as development priorities to support the government’s strategic objective of increasing access to energy. The plan includes the first phase of the 1,500MW Mphanda Nkuwa dam and the 1,245MW Cahora Bassa North, 612MW Lupata and 210MW Boroma dams on the Zambezi River, and the 60MW Alto Malema dam on the Lúrio River in northern Nampula Province. The five dams represent a combined investment of about $7bn. The projects are at varying stages of development.

The Kandadji irrigation and hydropower project on the Niger River, 180km north-west of Niamey, was launched in 2008 with an initial target completion date of 2017. The scheme forms part of a wider programme under the supervision of the High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN), which aims to improve water supply for agriculture and reduce seasonal variations in the flow of the river. The dam construction contract was initially awarded to Russia’s Zarubezhvodstroy in September 2010.