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The government on 6 June signed an agreement with a Chinese consortium to build the 240MW Busanga hydro scheme. The dam will be built on the Upper Congo River in Katanga province, downstream from two existing hydro plants, primarily to supply Société Sino-Congolaise des Mines (Sicomines). Moïse Ekanga, director of the China-DRC cooperation office, said construction was expected to take five years. The Sicomines joint venture and the Busanga hydro scheme are part of a cooperation agreement signed with Beijing in 2007.

The 300MW Tarfaya wind farm has begun generating electricity and will be fully operational in October. The plant is being developed by GDF Suez, in partnership with Morocco’s Nareva Holding, at a site on the southern Atlantic coast. GDF Suez won the contract to construct the project on a build-own-operate-transfer basis in February 2013 (AE 248/8). The wind farm consists of 131 80-metre turbines. As part of efforts to secure its energy supplies and meet rising demand, Morocco aims to generate 2GW from wind and 2GW from solar by 2020, representing almost half the country’s total generation capacity.

The World Bank Group-administered Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) is inviting expressions of interest from consultants to carry out a national multi-tier framework energy access household survey in Burkina Faso. ESMAP is supporting energy access surveys to establish a baseline to track progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7, which covers access to an affordable, reliable and sustainable modern energy supply.

Kleinschmidt Associates has been awarded a contract funded by the US Trade and Development Agency to carry out feasibility studies for the Chilongo and Chimpili hydropower projects. Chilongo is being developed by MPF Development Consultants at Chilongo Falls on the Lufubu River in Kawambwa district, Luapula province. Chimpili is being developed by Bukota Company on the Kalugwishi River in the same district.

Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET) has invited bids by 31 January for the rehabilitation of the 1.6MW Kpimé hydropower plant in the south-western Plateaux region. The plant, near Kpalimé, about 120km from the capital Lomé, comprises two 0.8MW units, and is the only hydropower plant owned and operated by CEET. The rehabilitation work, to be financed by CEET from its own funds, is expected to be completed within 16 weeks of contract signing, according to a tender notice published on 24 December.

The Ethiopian government has announced ambitious plans to expand its generation capacity to 37,000MW by 2037 from 2,300MW now, to meet growing domestic demand and supply the region. Ethiopia already exports 60MW to Djibouti and 100MW to Sudan, and is constructing a 500kV interconnection with Kenya, capable of exporting 2,000MW. However, under the new programme, the government aims to export 4,000MW to nine countries in the region, potentially expanding its network of clients to the Southern African Power Pool and countries in North Africa. Aimed at turning Ethiopia into a middle-income country by 2023, the Growth and Transformation Plan seeks to double access rates, increasing the number of Ethiopians connected to the grid to 4m and expanding electricity services to 75% of towns and villages.

In another sign of its growing presence in Africa, South Korea has agreed to provide a $35m soft loan to build three solar power plants in Mozambique.

The Ministry of Water and Energy and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation have given US companies Global Trade and Development Consulting and Energy Ventures a contract for three 100MW solar plants in the east of the country.The site selection, due diligence and feasibility study were completed earlier this year and the plants will be developed on a build-operate-transfer basis. Global Trade and Development Consulting is run by Ethiopian-born economist Yonnas Kefle. In 2010, the government launched its Growth and Transformation Plan, which aims to turn Ethiopia into a middle-income country by 2023.

Ethiopia’s plans to attract more foreign capital into its power industry took a step forward in late October as the government announced 14 projects that it wants to build and run as public-private partnerships (PPPs). The plan to attract private finance for the planned hydropower and solar schemes is a departure for a government that has borrowed heavily over the last decade from Chinese banks and elsewhere to construct large-scale dams such as Gibe III and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), as well as for major transmission projects.

Energie du Mali (EDM) has invited expressions of interest from consultants by 14 May to carry out technical, economic, financial, environmental and social feasibility studies as well as elaboration of tender documents for the construction of two solar PV power plants in Kambila and Safo totalling 90MWp. The consultancy services are to be financed from French Development Agency (AFD) funding for construction of the northern section of the 225kV loop around Bamako.

The Ministry of Infrastructure, Natural Resources and Environment invites expressions of interest by 3 December from consultants to prepare feasibility studies for mini-hydropower plants and provide technical assistance to attract private sector and/or PPP investment.

Zambia has pledged to maintain electricity supplies to the mining industry despite the expiry of the power supply agreement between Zesco and the privatised Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).The bulk supply agreement (BSA) expired on 31 March, ending a 23-year-old arrangement for electricity supply to the country’s economic mainstay sector. The government says Zesco will continue supplying power to the Copperbelt for up to 12 months while a long-term solution is sought.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $30m investment in the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI Ogef), which will provide debt finance for the off-grid power sector. Investments have also been approved by Calvert Impact Capital (CIC, $10m), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and €6m ($7m) from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), which also agreed a €0.5m grant for technical assistance. FEI Ogef comes as rapidly expanding off-grid solar companies are looking at options for raising larger tranches of debt funding.

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has signed a $1.4bn agreement with China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company (CET), part of the State Grid Corporation of China, to build a 619km double-circuit 500kV AC transmission line to connect the 6,000MW Grand Renaissance dam to the grid. The project is expected to be implemented in stages between 2014 and 2016. The work will also include construction of a 98km double-circuit AC transmission line and two new 500kV substations as well as expanding three 400kV substations.

Four 80kW solar PV-diesel mini-grids in Beleko Soba, Fakola, Dogoni and Diena will be commissioned within months after building work was completed, the Netherlands’ Foundation Rural Energy Services (FRES) told African Energy. The projects are waiting for the end of travel restrictions so specialist teams can commission the plants. Beleko Soba and Fakola are being developed by Solar23 and Dogoni and Diena by JGH.