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After a lost decade of failure, Tunisia’s energy sector authorities are attempting to implement a new and ambitious renewable energy procurement process which, once in place, could underpin long-term sustainable growth and cement the country as a vital commercial partner to developed economies in Europe. With the award of the first in a set of new tenders just emerging, African Energy has analysed the trends and the projects whose success or failure will help define the outcome of what looks certain to be a second term for the autocratic incumbent President Kaïs Saïed, writes John Hamilton.

Over the last two months South Africa and Zambia have enacted new liberalising laws and market regulations in an attempt to attract investment to their power generation, transmission, and distribution sectors.

Siemens Energy has won a contract to provide a power generation plant for the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the 70,000 b/d Kaminho upstream project, 100km off the coast of Angola.

Wärtsilä has renewed a long-running operations and maintenance (O&M) deal at QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM), an ilmenite mine in Fort Dauphin which is majority owned by mining supermajor Rio Tinto Group. The extension of the long-running arrangement will see thermal capacity integrated with a new solar, wind, and battery energy storage plant.

The concessional loan from German development bank KfW has enabled the project to expand from70MWp to 100MWp, with Chinese contractors now taking on the EPC work.

French asset manager Mirova has invested $15m in renewable energy company SolarAfrica, to support its commercial and industrial (C&I) projects in South Africa.

A small number of floating solar plants are already operating across Africa and over a dozen more are being planned. Advocates say the technology can not only generate power, but also expand the generation capacity of underperforming hydroelectric power reservoirs. As dams age and water becomes scarce, development finance institutions could a play critical role in funding the growth of a still-nascent technology, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi.

After Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board (ERB) refused to sign-off on a tariff increase, the government said alternative financing will be found to reduce the 20-hour blackouts caused by historically low levels of rainfall. State utility Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (Zesco) is facing a perfect storm, with its own generation output and export sales plummeting and public money in short supply as the government grapples with the impact of the drought and a longstanding debt crisis.

Successful Chinese bidders are placing equipment orders for power plants awarded under Sonelagz’s 2GW solar programme. Contracts for 19 plants were signed with eight contractors earlier this year as part of a first phase in a programme to add 15GW of solar capacity by 2035.  

West Africa Energy’s nearly-complete thermal plant at Cap des Biches will bring much-needed baseload capacity to Senelec’s network, supporting further renewable power projects. Meanwhile, the ruling Pastef party has started an audit of energy contracts awarded by the previous regime – with gas-to-power projects included in its scope, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

The nominally ‘independent candidate’ Abdelmajid Tebboune seems set for a second term when Algerians vote in the 7 September presidential election. He has promised accelerated investment in electricity and other infrastructure, a more responsive business environment and faster delivery of jobs and social services – with big new hydrocarbons deals to pay for it all.

State-owned power utility Eskom has pledged that the power cuts that have dogged South Africa for decades could finally be at an end, as long as unplanned outages can be kept at their current level.

The 155MW Ummbila Emoyeni wind farm in Mpumalanga province is the first phase of a wider 900MW wind and solar PV project that includes an 800MW battery energy storage system (Bess).

Local downstream player Elton Oil is advancing its $120m regasification terminal project and has signed an offtake deal with Senelec to provide the utility with gas feedstock. The move could be an important step in Dakar’s move away from liquid fuels towards cheaper and less polluting gas, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

UAE-based Masdar and its local partner Infinity Power have signed a power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for electricity from the planned onshore wind farm.