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Kenya has put in place a green hydrogen framework giving impetus to a growing number of private sector projects that could drive capital-intensive post-carbon industries. African Energy rounds up the renewable energy-driven projects that are making the running in Kenya’s early-stage GH2 economy.

Milele Energy – part-owner of the Lake Turkana wind farm – has been hiring as the Nairobi-headquartered IPP developer it prepares to expand its African project portfolio.

The sale by Denmark’s Investment Fund for Developing Countries of a minority stake in the successful Lake Turkana IPP to a fund managed by BlackRock shows big institutional investors can be attracted to sub-Saharan renewables – and the returns that can be made by those willing to shoulder early-stage risks.

Weighed down by financial and geopolitical risks, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s administration continues to push its green hydrogen (GH2) agenda - including the signing of seven new agreements. It is a risky proposition but, if schemes can be proved bankable, tens of billions of dollars of investment could transform Egypt’s economic prospects. John Hamilton looks at who is involved and where GH2 megaprojects have got to so far.

For Egypt, the development of green hydrogen production capacity is not just an interesting economic sideline that has emerged out of the global push to achieve net-zero, but a potential lifeline for the economy. Officials have put in place a governance infrastructure and fiscal incentives in the hope of making the most of the GH2 opening.

Sasol South Africa and Air Liquide have signed a third power purchase agreement (PPA) with Enel Green Power RSA for wind power supply to their site in Mpumalanga province.

A first cargo of liquefied natural gas has left the Litchendjili LNG terminal in Pointe-Noire, following a rapid development by Eni and national oil company SNPC.

Solargen has commissioned a solar and battery energy storage system, bringing electricity to Uganda’s Bussi Island on Lake Victoria for the first time.

Nairobi-headquartered developer Equator Energy has commissioned a 0.75MWp grid-tied solar PV plant for Nandi Tea Estates (NTE)’s factory in Nandi County, 300km north-west of Nairobi.

Lotus Resources’ fundraising will help the Australian miner to restart the Kayelekera mine in Malawi, where negotiations for a power purchase agreement and grid connection with Escom continue.

UAE-owned Guinea Alumina Corporation’s 1m t/yr bauxite refining project is in addition to the similar-sized alumina refinery already planned by Société Minière de Boké in partnership with Alteo. Coming after Conakry demanded bauxite miners develop local value-adding facilities, these developments could add gigawatts to electricity demand and may require significant LNG imports.

In a development that could destabilise Namibia’s electricity export initiative, industry sources have told African Energy the authorities have drastically downsized the amount of power allowed for export from 750MW to 100MW, making export-oriented independent power producers’ plants economically unviable.

Johannesburg-based data company Teraco plans to build a solar PV plant in Free State province, after being allocated grid capacity by state utility Eskom. Electricity generated from the plant will be wheeled across Eskom and municipal power networks to Teraco’s operations throughout South Africa.

One of the continent’s biggest hybrid power projects, awarded under South Africa’s much-delayed risk mitigation IPP procurement programme, has reached financial close.

7YRDS Energy Zambia is seeking a partnership with the Lusaka-based Industrial Development Corporation to build two solar PV projects in Kafue and Sesheke districts with combined 100MW capacity.