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A newly-commissioned mini-grid on Lake Victoria is acting as a testbed for the French energy giant’s approach to mini-grids, with a focus on promoting industrial development to boost electricity use, writes Dan Marks

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to Daybreak Power Solutions, a subsidiary of Nigeria’s Daystar Power Group, for a feasibility study into new solar PV and storage mini-grids for business offtakers.

Local developer OnePower has reached financial close on its 1.7MW Sotho mini-grid portfolio project. Using ZAR107m ($7m) of senior debt and ZAR43.2m ($3m) of equity financing from the European Union’s Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI) and the UK’s Renewable Energy Performance Platform, the portfolio has become one of largest project financed mini-grid initiatives in Africa. OnePower chief executive Matthew Orosz spoke to African Energy about the details.

Release, the containerised solar power unit set up by Norway’s Scatec, has signed agreements for solar PV and battery projects in Cameroon and Chad – the first large utility and mini-grid contracts it has signed since being launched in 2019.

Local developer OnePower is awaiting financial close on its $10m Lesotho Highlands mini-grid project, pending an appraisal process by exchange control regulator the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL), chief executive Matthew Orosz said.

Starsight, CrossBoundary, Daystar and Blue Camel are among a growing number of operators who are building a major corporate business as companies seek secure electricity supply, writes Marc Howard.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched its Scaling Mini-Grids (SMG) programme with a project the World Bank Group (WBG) affiliate says will give 1.5m Congolese, and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, access to energy.

Norfund has invested €10m ($11.6m) equity in solar home system (SHS) distributor Baobab+, which is active in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal, where it has supplied some 220,000 households.

Off-grid plants of up to 10MW are to be permitted in mini-grid zones to attract private sector investment as part of a major new initiative to increase rural electrification. Stakeholders in late October outlined bold policy reforms to overcome low rates of electrification – with an overall official access rate of only 40%, falling to just 8% in rural areas – that have added to popular criticism of the authorities’ ability to drive inclusive development.

Solar products company Greenlight Planet Kenya has secured a Kenyan shilling-denominated financing facility worth $75m from a group of commercial banks and development finance institutions – Standard Bank Group, Citi, CDC Group and Norfund – it was announced on 26 October.

Enel Green Power (EGP) has told African Energy that its 138MW Garob wind project in South Africa is expected online “in the coming weeks”. The project was selected as a preferred bidder in an expansion of the fourth round of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme (REIPPP4) in June 2015.

Development of the 10MW Achada Mostarda wind power plant on Santiago Island has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Burundi’s first utility-scale power development to come online in over three decades started up in October. The 7.5MW Mubuga solar PV plant will boost the country’s on-grid generation capacity by just over 10%, according to African Energy Live Data.

Construction has started at Burkina Faso’s largest solar PV project, the 38MW Kodéni plant, after France’s Africa Ren said on 21 October it had reached financial close on the scheme.

The Kelvin coal power plant has signed a two-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the City of Johannesburg to supply an additional 100MW.