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After two years of negotiations, Sithe Global and Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) initialled term sheets for the 147MW Ruzizi III hydroelectric project on 18 September with the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs (CEPGL). The agreement confirms the companies as successful bidders and gives them the go-ahead to negotiate specific contract terms over the coming months. The project is the third in a series of hydro schemes on the Ruzizi River, which connects lakes Kivu and Tanganyika on the borders of Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The 30MW Ruzizi I and 44MW Ruzizi II plants are being rehabilitated, and a 287MW Ruzizi IV scheme is still at the planning stage.

Officials from Burundi, DRC and Rwanda are expected to meet potential investors in Kigali in March to put together an estimated $500m financing package for the planned Ruzizi III HEP scheme, which would supply electricity to all three partner states.

Officials in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are making bullish noises about the much-anticipated Inga 3 hydroelectric power project, with the bidding whittled down to two consortia, which officials say are expected to present their final offers by 31 July, for contracts to be signed by year-end. Veteran energy official Bruno Kapandji Kalala – appointed by President Joseph Kabila Kabange to head the Agence pour le Développement et la Promotion du Projet Grand Inga (ADPI-RDC), the unit within the president’s office charged with delivering the Grand Inga project – has set out a roadmap for the project’s implementation and revealed changes to the bidding consortia.

The deadline by which preferred bidders from the second round of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producers (REIPPP) programme must reach financial close has been extended from the end of March to 22-26 April. The delay has been caused by the Department of Energy needing approvals before it can sign agreements, the most important of which is the requirement that the budget for each round is formally approved by the Treasury under the Public Finance Management Act.

Japan’s Toshiba Corporation on 27 August signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development outlining a partnership to develop geothermal power projects and training. Under the agreement signed at the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi on 27-28 August, Toshiba will collaborate in the development and supply of equipment for a geothermal power plant, create operation and management guidelines, and assist with the training of personnel.

Electricité de Djibouti has released the general procurement notice for the Fialé-Caldera geothermal power project in the Lake Assal area. The project aims to develop a 50MW geothermal power plant in three phases to 2018. Tender documents are expected to be released soon. The first phase will take 30 months and is expected to be completed by May 2016.

Philippe Edmonds’ latest venture, BioEnergy Africa Ltd, floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market on 1 September.

Kenya and Ethiopia are reviewing an agreement signed in January 2012 for Kenya to buy 400MW of hydropower from Ethiopia. Implementation has been hit by delays in completing the 1,045km interconnection line.“We’re currently in negotiations with Ethiopia on revising the PPA [power purchase agreement]. Details will be provided later on once we finalise,” Kenya Power acting managing director Jared Othieno told African Energy.The 2012 agreement obliges Kenya Power to buy 400MW at a fixed tariff of $0.07/kWh for onward sale to homes and businesses in Kenya.

Prequalification is under way for a 19.65MWp solar PV and battery system for the Blanket gold mine in Gwanda operated by Caledonia Mining Corporation. The system will hybridise with existing diesel generators with combined capacity of 18.4MW. It will be located on a 40ha site connecting at 33kV and may include a storage system with up to 5MVA capacity. Development will be over three 6.55MW phases, with the first two phases implemented in parallel.

The Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) signed a contract with Sinohydro on 26 February to develop the 294MW Koukoutamba hydroelectric project in northern Guinea. Sinohydro will build the $812m project, located in the department of Tougué, in the Labé region, on the Bafing River about 7.5km upstream of its confluence with the Senegal River, under an engineering, procurement and construction contract financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. Construction is expected to begin before the end of H1 2019, and take four years, according to project manager Bouya Condé.

A request for proposals is scheduled to be issued in Q3 to prequalified engineering, procurement and construction contractors to build the 180MW Ngonye Falls hydropower plant on the Zambezi River. Prequalification for the project got under way last year. The tender comes despite uncertainty about the direction of the power sector in the country, with national utility Zesco taking on ever more debt and the government picking a fight with the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Zesco’s most reliable source of income.

Containerised solar rental company Redavia Global Asset SCA has signed a $2m financing agreement with the European Commission-funded Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI) to support its activities in Ghana’s commercial and industrial sector. The financing follows a $4m facility agreed with responsAbility Investments AG in October last year. The loan is expected to increase Redavia’s fleet of solar plants by around 15MWp.

African governments are united in calling for a better deal from the new global round of climate talks in Copenhagen.

Local community groups have reached agreement with the developers of the Kinangop wind park in the Rift Valley following the latest protests over compensation and health risks. Since construction of the 60.8MW project began in July last year, Kinangop’s development has been dogged by protests from local people who say they were not properly consulted over the project development and that compensation provisions are insufficient.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is to provide a grant of $990,000 to the government to support the development of renewable energy. The grant will finance three studies under an energy sector support programme aimed at promoting private sector investment in renewable energy to reduce excessive reliance on costly imported power while expanding access to electricity and ensuring reliable power supply.