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It is more than a whisper: international institutions and private equity (PE) investors are again exploring major hydroelectric power (HEP) deals, after years during which environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns made big dams a problematic issue for development finance institutions (DFI) and other potential investors.

State utility Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) has synchronised the sixth and final unit of the Karuma hydroelectric power plant to the grid.

State utility Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) has started work to connect the 2.1GW Julius Nyerere hydroelectric power (HEP) plant to Chalinze substation in Pwani district, via a 400kV power transmission line built by India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

The  Zungeru hydroelectric power plant has been commissioned, adding some 10% to Nigeria’s on-grid capacity. However, dispatching Zungeru’s full capacity will depend on the patchy transmission network.

The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to provide up to $1m in funding to support the development of two run-of-the-river hydroelectric power (HEP) projects, which are being developed by Mauritius-based Tembo Power in the south of Burundi.

The Zambezi River Authority (ZRA)’s efforts to rehabilitate the Kariba Dam have suffered delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but the company’s chief executive now says that the project should be completed in early 2025, just a few months later than the previous deadline.

Construction of a 5MW mini-hydro power station downstream of Lake Mutirikwi in Masvingo province will start in November, project developers have said. The Great Zimbabwe Hydro power project is licensed for 25 years, with Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company (ZETDC) as the offtaker.

President João Lourenço has issued a decree modifying the contract for the construction of the 2,172MW Caculo Cabaça dam with the removal of companies associated with controversial businesswoman Isabel dos Santos. Decree 79/18, dated July 12 and signed by Lourenço, states that the contract must be modified to remove the consortium of China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC), Niara Holding and Boreal Investment, and give sole rights to CGGC.

Gemcorp Capital has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Water which could lead to excess power generated in Angola being exported to Namibia and the Southern African Power Pool (Sapp).

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi have pledged to renew efforts to resolve their dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) during a meeting in Cairo. The two leaders said they would try to reach an agreement on the dam’s filling and operating procedures within four months.

Ethiopia’s ‘unilateral action’ in starting limited power generation at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) violates its diplomatic obligations, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry told the Council of the League of Arab States on 9 March.

Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel) says the Inga I and II hydropower plants could be restored to 90% capacity by year-end following turbine rehabilitation work. The 351MW capacity of Inga I was fully restored in mid-November following repairs to the G16 turbine which broke down in early October, cutting supply to Matadi, Boma, Muanda and Tshela in Kongo Central province. News reports quoted the plant’s interim manager, Serge Mbiyavanga, as saying a short-circuit had damaged the 58.5MW turbine.

The DRC government has decided to recruit a new private-sector partner to develop a smaller, 4,800MW version of the Inga 3 hydro project on the Congo River. The decision is part of a new roadmap for the project discussed at a two-day workshop on the development of Inga 3 held in Abidjan on 13-14 January, with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other financial partners. Discussions included a review of the project’s status, demand projections and the planned public-private partnership to develop it.

A 15 January cabinet meeting approved a draft decree on the status of the Agence pour le Développement et la Promotion du Projet Grand Inga (ADPI-RDC). The draft decree relates to the status, organisation and operation of the agency that was created in October 2015 to oversee the Grand Inga project. The 2015 decree describes ADPI-RDC as a special body within the Office of the President, and stipulates that ADPI-RDC determines the framework of the project, its launch, oversight measures, the selection of private partners and the award of concessions.

A month after inviting the Spanish and Chinese consortia competing to build the 4,800MW Inga 3 hydropower dam on the Congo River to merge their offers into a single bid, the head of the Agency for the Development and Promotion of Grand Inga (ADPI), Bruno Kapandji Kalala, has said the project’s start date has been postponed by four years to 2024 or 2025. “We are working for this timing (in 2024 or 2025) now that the potential developer has been identified,” he told Reuters on 3 July.