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Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania have requested funding from the African Development Bank and World Bank Group for the joint development of the 61.5MW Rusumo Falls hydropower project on the Kagera River in Tanzania.

ANGOLA: CMIC contract for Luanda grid; KENYA: Bamburi Cement to increase biomass use; LIBERIA: Stanley to study Mount Coffee expansion; MOROCCO: Abdelmoumen STEP deadline; MOZAMBIQUE: EDM seeks bids to extend grid; NIGERIA: Chinese to build first coal-fired plant; TANZANIA: AfDB funding; UGANDA: French JV to supply Bujagali; UPDEA: European meeting to discuss reform study

Rio Tinto Alcan, key investor in the Coega industrial zone, is rethinking its timetable in the light of South Africa’s power crisis. But private power provider IPSA Group is confident it can meet its needs.

Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality (GSDM) in north-eastern South Africa has received approval to proceed with a multi-million dollar hydroelectric project in Limpopo Province following approval of an environmental impact assessment.

Cameroon can be a frustrating place to do business. Industry players complain of political appointments to key posts – privatised utility AES Sonel’s new deputy managing director Jean-Jacques Ledru is a presidential appointee – and a slow pace of negotiations. Anger at rising fuel and food costs spilled over into riots last month in which 17 people were killed, and President Paul Biya’s plans to amend the constitution to allow him to seek another seven-year term of office have dismayed many Cameroonians hoping for change.

Eskom was a key beneficiary of the flurry of contracts whose announcement accompanied President Nicolas Sarkozy’s state visit in February.

Zambia Electricity Supply Company (Zesco) has opened talks with international financial institutions including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and export credit agencies to raise an initial $600m to build and upgrade hydropower plants, including the 750MW Kafue Gorge Lower project.

BOTSWANA: BPC seeks alternatives to Eskom supply; EGYPT: Lahmeyer gets consultancy order for Assiut HPP; ETHIOPIA: Gilgel Gibe 3 turbines out to bid; MOROCCO: EOIs sought for Abdelmoumen STEP; NIGERIA: Aqua Energy to build BOT hydro in Kano; SOUTH AFRICA: ABB wins $21m Eskom order

The availability of gas for domestic sectors – particularly power – is a major plank of the government’s reform programme (AE127/17).

Independent power producer Geometric Power Ltd has contracted GE Energy to supply three aeroderivative gas turbines for its private power plant at Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State (AE 126/9).

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) registered a 38% fall in net profit to $25.8m for the six months to December 2007, despite an 8.2% rise to $86m in production revenue.

The power-sharing agreement between President Mwai Kibaki and his new Prime Minister Raila Odinga has been near universally applauded as a solution to the country’s post-election problems and is seen as the key to unblocking finance and projects (AE 132/20, 131/21, 130/1).

An impressive array of new policies and committees has been announced to revive Nigeria’s troubled power sector, but rows over previous failures, wobbles over tariff hikes and the massive cost of the investment needed to reach 100,000MW by 2015 give cause to wonder whether the Yar’Adua administration really can turn things round.

Pipeline leaks in Nigeria mean Ghanaians are still waiting for first gas from the West African Gas Pipeline, which had been promised for Christmas.

Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has shortlisted two Chinese companies for the 300MW Morupule power plant expansion, badly needed to reduce the country’s dependence on imports from South Africa. Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe said the government was also reviewing several proposals from independent power producers. The Morupule expansion should come on stream in 2011. Speaking at a briefing for business representatives on the power crisis, Kedikilwe said BPC had entered into a barter arrangement with a power station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, for BPC to supply coal in return for power.