Search results

Dubai-based Amea Power has broken ground on its Kairouan solar project. The 120MW plant, which is being developed under a build-own-operate (BOO) model, is one of the few projects to make progress in Tunisia’s troubled renewable energy programme.

According to cabinet secretary for energy Davis Chirchir, the Kenyan government’s moratorium on IPPs is ‘unsustainable’, amid the risk of future loadshedding due to shortage of supply, while other advances are in the pipeline, including wheeling tariffs and the supply of power through embedded networks, writes Neville Otuki in Nairobi.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has formally cancelled a $1m grant to the now-abandoned Kibera Waste Pilot plant in Nairobi, following extensive procurement problems and a breakdown in its relationship with developer Asticom Kenya.

Meridiam-owned Rift Valley Energy has secured $15m in funding from the UK’s development finance institution British International Investment (BII) to build 7.6MW of wind and hydroelectric power projects.

Mozambican regulator Autoridade Reguladora de Energia (Arene) has issued a request for proposals (RfP) for independent power producers (IPPs) to develop and install solar PV and battery energy storage systems (Bess) through the country’s Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariff (Get FiT) programme.

State-owned Kuvimba Mining Houses (KMH) is holding discussions with potential funding partners to develop mineral beneficiation at its portfolio of mines, where renewable C&I capacity is increasingly supplying power, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi.

Johannesburg-based real estate investor Vukile Property Fund plans to increase its power generating capacity from rooftop solar PV to 41MWp by 2026, as part of a strategy to invest in alternative and cheaper electricity to supplement unreliable grid supplies to its shopping malls.

Recently-elected President Faye has vowed to boost on-grid renewable energy capacity and phase out the use of expensive liquid fuels for power generation. Analysis from African Energy Live Data shows this is a continuation of a trend set by his predecessor Macky Sall. However, the phasing out of HFO also relies on the country tapping into its substantial gas reserves and Faye’s pledge to renegotiate hydrocarbons contracts makes some nervous.

The UK/Norway-owned IPP Globeleq has raised $99m of debt financing for Mozambique’s first wind project, adding to its southern African portfolio. Despite industry pessimism over the prospects for utility-scale projects, Globeleq is advancing a large pipeline of greenfield renewable and gas capacity in eastern and southern Africa and is bullish over the future of utility-scale projects, writes Marc Howard.

Solar PV solar and battery capacity has already taken an important share of Mali’s off-grid commercial and industrial (C&I) generation market. The installation of these systems is likely to go further despite the inherent risks in the market.

Russian sponsorship of Mali’s largest under-development solar PV plant has raised eyebrows in the industry. It represents an unusual departure for Rosatom and depends on the warm ties between Colonel Assimi Goïta’s regime and Moscow.

The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) has denied local media reports in Nigeria that it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Mabon Power for 40MW from the Dadin Kowa hydropower plant.

Frontier Energy partner Daniel Schultz told African Energy that construction had been completed at the 5MW Kakaka hydropower plant, with commercial operations expected by end-August or September after Covid-19-related restrictions had caused significant delays.

Cedar Energy is hoping to reach a power purchase agreement (PPA) with offtaker Power Market Ltd (PML) in the near future for its 3MW run-of-river project on the Muloza River in Mulanje District. Although construction of the plant in southern Malawi, near the border with Mozambique, was completed in February, it has yet to be formally commissioned as a result of complications stemming from recent market reforms.

The 15MW Nyamagasani I and 5MW Nyamagasani II run-of-river hydropower projects are both due to be commissioned in 2021. The plants received financial commitments of $13m in the third round of the Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariffs (GET FiT) programme in November 2014.