Search results

Two new committees to spearhead and monitor reform and efforts to unify contracts reveal the president’s focus on achieving stable power supply.

The African Development Bank has approved a supplementary loan of $32.5m to Kenya under the African Development Fund (AfDF) concessional window

Zimbabwe utility Zesa Holding is sticking to its power-exporting arrangement with NamPower, the Namibian parastatal has told African Energy.

Concentrix Solar joins Desertec; BHP Billiton revises Mozal contract, SA talks go on; Harsco announces Gibe III dam contract

Despite the disappointment of Chinguetti, International oil companies are looking again at Mauritania, where Dana Petroleum and Petronas plan to drill this year. Tullow Oil exploration director Angus McCoss told African Energy that Mauritania had been “off the industry radar screen for a couple of years, which has given Tullow a great opportunity to do a regional geological review of the plays that may exist in that area”. Previous exploration led by Australia’s Woodside drilled down into the Miocene, finding the Chinguetti field, which causes great initial excitement but then proved geologically complex and expensive to develop.

Described as Kenya's second wind power generator, Gitson Energy Ltd is promoting a 300MW wind farm at Bubisa, in the Marsabit area, where the initial phase is scheduled to start up in 2012; its plans also include a 50MW solar project in the same area.

The World Bank Group board has approved a $600m loan to support the 1,500MW Giza North Power Project. The project comprises development and construction of a combined cycle gas turbine power plant at Giza North near Cairo.

Financial close for the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project in northern Kenya – expected to be Africa’s biggest wind farm – is possible by year-end, with a dozen multilateral, development finance institution and commercial financiers expressing interest in backing the 300MW scheme.

Pushing for more HCB electricity; Power grid for irrigation; Power prices rise; Solar power for Lofa police; Nexans cable links Pemba to mainland

Globeleq Generation has signed an agreement to take ABB’s stake in the Azito gas-fired power plant near Abidjan, following its acquisition of Electricité de France’s stake earlier this year (AE 185/1).

Rehabilitation work on the Massingir dam on the Elephants River in Gaza province, some 330km north of Maputo, should begin in Q4, according to project manager Arlindo Vasco Munguambe, who is director of the technical department of the southern regional water administration Administração Regional de Aguas do Sul (ARA-Sul).

In an interesting sign of growing private sector involvement in Sudanese energy, ASEC Cement and Taqa Arabia, both companies of Egyptian private equity firm Citadel Capital, have inaugurated a 42MW power plant at a new cement project (AE 180/7).

Tunisia will deliver two of three power generation projects on schedule despite repeated delays to the bidding process, while a third, which will export electricity to Italy, has been held up by at least a year. Richard Nield reports on the projects roster and reasons for delays over the past year

The progress of cross-border interconnection projects can be painfully slow in sub-Saharan Africa - underlined by the failure to get the five-nation Western Corridor project going (AE 186/7) - but companies anxious to assure stable supplies are pushing for more

The new Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) group managing director is a low-profile Harvard and Oxford-educated engineer from the central Kogi state, who joined NNPC in 1977 and became Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company’s head of planning in 1987. Oniwon then served as technical assistant to the downstream department’s group executive director (1988-91), before serving as head of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company’s Engineering and Technical Services Department (ETSD) in 1991-92. Following this, Oniwon was appointed head of NNPC’s New Business Development, Corporate Planning and Development Division, until moving to become head of ETSD at Port Harcourt Refinery (1993-99).