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Energy and mineral development minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu has said South Africa’s Eskom Uganda will no longer operate and maintain the 200MW Kiira and 180MW Nalubaale hydroelectric power (HEP) plants, when their 20-year concessions are concluded next year.

President Lazarus Chakwera has called for a timely completion of the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for the 350MW Mpatamanga hydroelectric power project. The project’s implementation has been delayed for lack of a bankable ESIA.

Namibian Stock Exchange-listed Alpha Namibia Industries Renewable Power (Anirep) has secured a contract to build and operate an 18.5MW solar plant at Kokerboom in Keetmanshoop, with Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb as the off-taker.

Biovea Energies has begun construction of the 46MW Ayébo biomass power plant, a 2x23MW project fuelled by palm oil residues mostly collected from farmers in the Aboisso area.

Additions of renewable power generating capacity are proceeding more slowly than expected in markets with weak grids, such as Nigeria and Malawi. In response, developers are assessing potential solutions including increased baseload capacity and ancillary services agreements.

Supermajor Shell has acquired Nigerian commercial and industrial (C&I) developer Daystar Power for an undisclosed sum. The Lagos-headquartered firm’s co-founders and management team will remain in situ. Daystar also announced plans to expand into southern and eastern African markets.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company and Akiira Geothermal are planning the co-development of several new geothermal projects in KenGen’s first joint venture deal with an independent power producer (IPP), company officials told African Energy – and other IPP deals could follow for the state generation company.

Galvanised by the possibilities presented by green hydrogen (GH2), the Cairo authorities have drawn up an extraordinary vision for transforming the Egyptian energy sector and economy in the coming decades. The plans include tens or possibly hundreds of gigawatts of renewable power, barrages of electrolysers, an entirely new export-focused energy infrastructure, plus renewables-powered sea water desalination projects to break the millennia-old dependence on the River Nile. Most of the technology, financing and fully worked-out strategies have yet to be put in place, but the government aims to sign the first commercial deals at the COP27 summit in November. African Energy gives details of this policy in a series of articles

Total Eren and Cairo-based Enara Capital’s agreement to develop a green ammonia plant in the Suez Canal Development Zone (SCZone) is the sixth Egyptian green hydrogen (GH2) project to be agreed in the past three months. With Masdar, EDF, Amea Power, Maersk and Scatec already pursuing schemes, the pace at which these deals are being put in place demonstrates Egypt’s determination to establish a leading position in GH2 exploitation – and to make this part of a broader energy hub strategy.

Far-reaching amendments aimed as enabling a competitive market for electricity preceded another infrastructure-heavy State of the Nation address from President Cyril Ramaphosa. The devil will be in the detail as the industry pores over South Africa’s latest draft bill and the president’s statements about upcoming generation procurement, writes Dan Marks.

Democratic Republic of Congo has aspirations to become the world leader in emerging battery technologies, but despite its mineral assets, clear political will and grandiose statements from potential donors, considerable challenges need to be addressed before the country can move beyond its traditional role as supplier of raw materials, writes François Misser with Jon Marks.

Industry players continue to make bullish sounds about projects in Ethiopia, despite the murderous conflict pitting the Abiy Ahmed government against Tigrayan rebels that is putting some financing on hold and leading to geopolitical realignments in the region, writes Dan Marks

The global hydrocarbons industry is entering a critical period, as oil majors press on with attempts to reinvent their businesses to meet ambitious emissions reduction targets and accommodate shifting investor expectations. That is likely to lead to further retrenchment from key African markets as the biggest international players reassess their priorities, which will favour gas over crude projects. But not everyone is heading for the exit, writes James Gavin.

TotalEnergies’ move to increase its interest in the Waha oil concessions, plus a separate agreement with General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol) to build 500MW of solar power, shows how the politically nimble oil major intends to trace a line between its fossil-fuelled past and the net zero future.

The PIDG group is pushing its credentials as a powerful support for early-stage developments with significant business flow of renewables projects. A solar project in Burkina Faso is the latest beneficiary, writes Marc Howard.