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German developer ABO Wind remains optimistic that it can develop two Tunisian projects it secured in 2019 but is having to switch one from wind to solar and is also battling with the commercial framework.

The scale of the green hydrogen (GH2) opportunity emerging in North Africa is potentially transformative for the region. However, to date just one tiny pilot project is up and running and there is still no firm evidence that giga-scale projects can be made bankable. If the prospect is a mirage, it is one that has taken in a swathe of respected global investors. With an ever-increasing amount riding on the outcome, failure will be a disaster, but success could revolutionise the fortunes of the region, writes John Hamilton.

A power purchase agreement (PPA) has been signed with Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz for a 10MWp solar PV project in Gabès, Tunisia. The project is owned by France’s Akuo Energy Sasu, Hédi Bouchamaoui Group (HBG) Holding, a diversified group owned by the Hedi Bouchamaoui family, and Imoobilière Chaabane group company Nour Energy.

Minister of energy, mines and renewable energy Hela Cheikhrouhou has launched the first phase of a three-phase independent power producer programme for renewables. Companies have been invited to submit proposals for wind and solar projects amounting to a maximum of 210MW capacity by November this year and August next year. Subsequent phases will involve concessions for larger plants, which will be awarded by competitive tender, and the licensing of pure private sector schemes.

Italy’s TerniEnergia has signed a $12.5m deal to build a 10MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near Tozeur on behalf of Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (Steg). On 23 March, the company said this was the first plant to go ahead under the state utility’s 380MW share of the Tunisia Solar Plan. Construction will start at the end of March and will be completed in 12 months.

The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines has invited bids by 9 February 2021 for the development and construction of 70MWp of solar PV power capacity on a build-own-operate basis as part of the country’s renewables procurement programme. The tender covers the construction of six solar farms of 10MW each and ten smaller plants with individual capacities of up to 1MW. Selected bidders will be awarded long-term power purchase agreements with state-owned utility Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz.

Tunisia’s industry, energy and mines ministry is working on the early stages of a green hydrogen (GH2) scheme called H2vert.TUN with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) and its Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) development agency.

Société Tunisienne d’Electricité et du Gaz (Steg) has launched an international tender for the engineering, procurement and construction of a second 10MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) park at Tozeur in the south-west of the country. Bids are invited by 20 December for the design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the Tozeur II plant, as well as its connection to the 150/33-kV Tozeur substation.

Commissioning of a fourth unit at the 2.1GW Julius Nyerere hydroelectric power plant has prompted the Tanzanian government to move away from gas-to-power capacity. The immediate consequence is that a power purchase agreement for Songas, the country’s first IPP, will not be renewed. Meanwhile, two foreign investors have launched arbitral claims of $500m and $1.2bn against the government, and progress remains static at the much-vaunted Tanzania LNG megaproject, writes Marc Howard.

Against the odds, the Tunisian government is trying to get its authorisation programme for procuring small, on-grid solar PV projects back on track. It has launched a fifth bidding round and set a new feed-in tariff structure applicable to both current and past projects. It needs to persuade investors that things will be different this time.

State-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has admitted that it does not have ownership documents for the land at its flagship Turkwel hydroelectric power plant, leaving the site vulnerable to encroachment by other users.

Prolonged drought has profoundly impacted hydroelectric power-dependent Zambia. The government is enacting reforms to mitigate the crisis, most significantly increasing tariffs in October on an emergency basis – a move which could pave the way for permanent cost-reflective tariffs. Developers are also advancing a solar PV pipeline that would see installed capacity increase tenfold by 2028. This informs an optimism from some players, such as private utility CEC, over the power sector’s longer-term prospects, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka.

Sasol’s Msenge Emoyeni wind farm has started commercial operations and is supplying power to the company’s Sasolburg site in the Free State, wheeled through the national grid. The project is part of a wider plan by the South African chemicals and energy giant to procure up to 1.2GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Some 330MW of new, small-scale renewable capacity is expected to be funded by Camco’s Repp 2 blended finance fund. Prospective projects span on- and off-grid solar, hydroelectric and wind power.

Pele Green Energy has reached financial close for a major solar PV IPP that will supply power to the Glencore Merafe Chrome Venture.