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It has taken months to negotiate and caused arguments about its cost and policy implications across recession-hit Morocco, but underlining the North African kingdom’s green credentials, construction at the Ouarzazate solar complex should start by the end of the year, writes Jon Marks in Marrakech

The proceeds from Zambia’s successful debut Eurobond issue will be spent on upgrading energy and transport infrastructure, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka.

The State Procurement Board has cancelled a tender for the expansion of Kariba South hydroelectric power station in which Sinohydro was the sole bidder.

Following international competitive bidding, Eco Delta has won a concession to install a 25.2MWe wind farm at a site close to the capital, Lomé. It has created a local venture, Delta Wind Togo SA-CA, in which the French renewables developer has taken 85% of the equity and a local partner the rest.

One plant was not awarded in Nigeria’s generation plant round: Afam Generation Company in Rivers State. The bidders for the 776MW unit are alleged to have included a company linked to former power minister Professor Bart Nnaji, a key player in the privatisation process.

The World Bank board has approved $203m of funding for the Niger Basin Water Resources Development and Sustainable Ecosystems Management Programme, which includes support for the Kandadji Programme.

A bilateral energy agreement signed by presidents Ian Khama and Jacob Zuma on 31 August has been greeted with a mixed reaction. The agreement is intended to lead to the export of coal from Botswana to South Africa.

The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on 17 September announced a loan of up to $250m for the 60MW Boshoff solar PV facility. The project was selected as a preferred bidder in the second round of South Africa’s renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme (REIPPPP).

The 3.5MW Nyagak hydroelectric power station was inaugurated on 14 September by President Yoweri Museveni. The long-delayed facility was built as part of the West Nile rural electrification project, the first African project to be financed in part by the World Bank’s Prototype Carbon Fund.

Egyptian Electricity Holding Company subsidiary East Delta Electricity Production Company is seeking bids for a critical piping and valves package for the 650MW Suez gas/oil-fired power plant.

Accelerating drilling activity and power plant construction plans by government agencies and private investors are giving substance to Kenya’s ambition to add 2,596MW of geothermal capacity by 2020/21, writes Jon Marks.

Glasgow-based global power rental giant Aggreko has announced a major restructuring of its global operations, to come into effect 1 January 2013.

Huge offshore gas reserves could make Tanzania a major new energy frontier, but the devil is in the detail for a government that distrusts international business, in a country where gas master plans and policy remain elusive, and domestic electricity and gas supply are in crisis, writes Jon Marks in Dar es Salaam.

Germany’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union and the African Union Commission’s Regional Geothermal Coordination Unit are gearing up to select the first projects from their new €50m Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF), to support developments in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The committee overseeing development of the Kribi port and industrial complex is seeking bids from consultants to carry out a power supply study.