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The arrival of a floating regasification unit at Tema is the final piece in the jigsaw for sub-Saharan Africa’s first offshore LNG import project. Long-awaited LNG imports are intended to reduce the cost of gas while stabilising supply in the east of the country, writes Dan Marks 

Siemens Gamesa announced on 4 January that it has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Ethiopian Electric Power to build the 100MW Assela wind farm. The contract includes the delivery of 29 SG 3.4-132 wind turbines, which are expected to come online in Q1 2023. The plant is expected to produce 330MWh/yr of electricity at less than €0.09/kWh ($0.11/kWh).

Enel Green Power (EGP) has announced a joint-venture partnership with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) aimed at financing, building and operating renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa. In a first phase, QIA will acquire 50% of EGP’s stake in 800MW of projects in operation and under construction in South Africa and Zambia. Enel said the JV would combine its industrial expertise with QIA’s long-term investment strategy, in line with the two companies’ sustainability and decarbonisation targets.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) says it has shortlisted 161 companies to advance to the final stage of the bid round process for 57 marginal oilfields. DPR public affairs head Paul Osu said the companies were selected from more than 600 that applied for prequalification. “The 2020 marginal oilfield bid round process is still ongoing in line with our published timelines on DPR website and bid portal.

National utility NamPower signed a N317m ($20.8m) turnkey construction contract in December with Hopsol Africa Ltd and Tulive Private Equity Ltd for the 20MW Omburu solar PV plant. Speaking at the signing, NamPower managing director Simson Haulofu said the plant would begin operating by November 2021 and would generate 64GWh/yr. He added that the plant is expected to have 37% local content.

Australia’s Syrah Resources Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SolarCentury Africa Ltd to develop an 11.2MW solar PV and 8.5MW battery system to operate alongside an existing 15MW diesel plant at Syrah’s Balama graphite mine. Syrah said it had carried out technical design and pricing analyses with SolarCentury in 2020. The MoU sets the terms for further development, with the aim of installing the plant on a build, own, operate and transfer basis.

Renewables developer Total Eren and Luanda-based Greentech (Angola Environment Technology) have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Energy and Water for the development of a 35MWp solar PV plant at Lubango, Huila province.

Zambia has suspended value-added tax (VAT) on diesel and petrol in an effort to avert an expected price increase as the country prepares for elections in August. Finance minister Bwalya Ng’andu signed a statutory instrument zero-rating petrol and diesel with effect from 1 January. The government had previously charged VAT of 16% on petroleum products. Fuel prices were last raised in December 2019 when the kwacha had depreciated to 14 to the dollar while crude oil prices were at $70/bbl.

Attention in the two Maghreb countries least endowed with hydrocarbons has turned to the potential of green hydrogen and fuel cell technology. On 23 December, Moroccan energy minister Aziz Rabbah told a virtual seminar organised by the Arab Renewable Energy Commission (Arec) that the Arab world should harness the “fuel of the future” as a catalyst for sustainable development and the green economy. He called for the establishment of infrastructure and the creation of research and development centres.

The arrival of a floating regasification unit at tema is the final piece in the jigsaw for sub-Saharan africa’s first offshore Lng import project. Long-awaited Lng imports are intended to reduce the cost of gas while stabilising supply in the east of the country, writes Dan Marks.

Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) is making progress with its 850MW Integrated Wind Project. The utility announced on 6 January that the 210MW Midelt wind farm has begun commercial operations. The plant is located on a 2,300ha site 8km north-east of Midelt. It is owned by ONEE, Italy’s Enel Green Power and Morocco’s Nareva Holding.

Four companies or joint ventures have been shortlisted for oil blocks in western Uganda offered in the country’s second licensing round. The four are Uganda National Oil Company, Total E&P, Australian miner DGR Global, whose Armour Energy subsidiary already has the Kanywataba Block, and local company PetroAfrik Energy Resources East Africa, in a joint venture with Nigeria’s Niger Delta Petroleum Resources, the New Vision daily reported.

Taiwan’s CPC Corporation held a ceremony on 1 December to mark the arrival of the first cargo of crude from Chad’s Oryx concession at the Dalin refinery. The first cargo of oil from the Oryx concession, a tanker carrying about 950,000 barrels of crude oil, departed from the Kribi terminal in Cameroon in October 2020 and arrived in Taiwan at the end of November.

A year after initial awards were first announced, minister of petroleum and mineral resources Tarek El-Molla has signed oil and gas exploration agreements with six major IOCs and their Egyptian partner Tharwa Petroleum. Seven of the agreements involving Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) are for offshore areas in the Mediterranean, while two are with South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) covering areas in the Red Sea. The ministry has said it expects to sign three more agreements soon.

The increasing momentum behind ‘green bonds’ and other instruments that could significantly mitigate the impacts of climate change has been underlined by the decision of one of Wall Street’s most charismatic figures, former US Treasury secretary Henry (‘Hank’) Paulson, to return to finance as executive chairman of the new global fund TPG Rise Climate. Paulson, now 74, was initially approached by Irish rock star turned impact investor Bono.