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Energy minister Jeff Radebe has said preparations for a fifth round of renewable energy procurement are going ahead and a launch is expected once the new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is completed. The draft IRP was released on 27 August, and a final version will be presented to cabinet following a 60-day consultation period. The fifth round “will come soon after we have completed the IRP”, Radebe told reporters on 6 September.

A Lagos-based energy and natural resources lawyer told African Energy immediate action was needed to save the sector. “The bubble of debt will keep growing until eventually it bursts, which will likely result in companies going bust and the whole power market collapsing. The only way out is for the discos and gencos to raise money through sales of equity – which they are very reluctant to do – or for the government to come to the rescue and bail out the sector. The sector is a ticking time bomb and there isn’t long left until we reach a crunch point.”

The Department of Energy (DoE) has reported heavy demand for tender documents, finally released in early August, for its renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) programme. 

Moroccan renewable energy developer Platinum Power has invited prequalification applications for the turnkey supply, construction and commissioning of two hydropower projects totalling up to around 300MW. The winning bidder will also be required to mobilise the required resources, analyse existing studies and undertake detailed studies, according to a tender notice published on 11 April. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in February 2014, Platinum Power was mandated by the government to finance and develop the Gao and Tayaboui projects on a build-own-operate-transfer basis.

Cameroon power utility Eneo has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a consortium led by Norway’s Scatec Solar for the construction of two PV plants with a total installed capacity of 25MWp. The MoU, which was signed in mid-July and announced on 8 August, sets out the modalities for the project structure and the key milestones for the two projects and paves the way for finalisation of a power purchase agreement with Eneo and start of construction work, the utility said in a press release.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company is seeking expressions of interest from companies interested in providing legal advisory services for the procurement of a partner to design, finance, supply, construct, commission, operate and maintain the 140MW Olkaria VI geothermal power plant. The project will be structured as a public-private partnership. The selected company will provide all legal and contractual support, inputs, documentation, services and content for the project to reach financial close. Bids are due by 23 June. Contact: Tel: +254 20 3666427. Fax: +254 20 2248848. Email: [email protected]. CC: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

Industrial Promotion Services and Norway’s SN Power have signed a 25-year concession agreement and power purchase agreements for the Ruzizi III hydropower plant with the governments and power utilities of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. The 147MW run-of-river project on the Ruzizi River is structured as an IPP and will be developed on a build, own, operate, transfer basis, the developers added. The project is expected to reach financial close in 2021 and to be operational in 2025-26.

Africa Geothermal International Kenya Ltd (Agil) has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power for a 140MW geothermal power project in Longonot. Agil will build, own and operate the project, which is expected to begin operating in 2018 and will supply around 1,170GWh each year to the grid. Agil has completed surface exploration and development with the help of New Zealand’s Sinclair Knight Merz, which also assisted with Clean Development Mechanism registration and PPA negotiations.

Once the right economics and policies are put in place, the pace of advance made by the most successful renewable energy types, including wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV), can be exceptionally fast. Extrapolations of continent-wide trends by the new African Energy Live data (Live data) suggest that sustainable technologies can replace polluting (and, increasingly, often costlier) thermal solutions which include the diesel, heavy fuel oil and charcoal that hundreds of millions in sub-Saharan Africa have come to depend on.

The 20MW Windiga solar scheme is progressing towards financial close during the summer, Windiga Energy president and chief executive Benoit La Salle told African Energy. He said construction was planned to start in Q3 this year. Windiga has been developing the project in Zina, Mouhoun province, since the company was established as part of miner Semafo’s corporate social responsibility policy in 2010. The project suffered some delay as a result of political upheaval in Burkina Faso, but the pace of investment is picking up with BioTherm Energy planning solar plants at Pâ and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Engineering and development consultancy Mott MacDonald has been appointed as the lenders’ technical adviser for the 50MW Bokpoort concentrating solar power project in South Africa by Investec Bank and Absa Bank (AE 260/8). Mott MacDonald will monitor construction and commissioning on behalf of the lenders over 28 months through regular site visits. The project was selected in the second round of the country’s renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme and will have the largest thermal storage capacity ever employed by a similar facility at 9.3 hours.

State utility Sonelgaz has faced capacity and financial pressures, but is generally seen to have performed to an acceptable level (by current Algerian standards) under Noureddine Bouterfa’s leadership, since January 2004. Algiers analysts noted that power cuts were no longer endemic on the new minister’s watch.Announcing Sonelgaz’s 2015 results on 5 June, Bouterfa pointed to investments worth AD577bn ($5.3bn) in 2015, when 1,285.6MW of new generation capacity was brought online.

Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel) has given a consortium led by Austria’s Andritz Hydro a contract for refurbishment of the Mwadingusha hydropower plant on the Lufira River in the southern province of Katanga. The scope of supply comprises replacement of four turbine units, generators, governors, inlet valves, exciters, voltage regulation, and draft tube stop logs, including dismantling, erection and commissioning, the equipment supplier disclosed on 16 January. The new turbines have almost 10% more output than the original units, which were commissioned in 1928 and manufactured by Charmilles, a predecessor of Andritz Hydro.

As well as clarifying the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme, energy minister Elizabeth Dipuo Peters on 29 October announced that 7,761MW of baseload generation capacity would be open to bids from independent power producers before 2025

UK-based clean power developer PASH Global, majority-owned by Dutch commodity trader Trafigura, announced on 15 January the acquisition of a 49.9% stake in the 50MW Kita solar PV park in western Mali. The project, in the town of Kita, 180km west of Bamako, is being developed by French green power producer Akuo Energy under a 30-year build-own-operate-transfer concession with a 28-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Energie du Mali (EdM), according to the London-based impact investor.