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Norway’s Empower New Energy has raised $74m in equity from a consortium led by The Hague, Netherlands-based Climate Fund Managers (CFM).

A move towards independent power transmission schemes being allowed to wheel power to private clients could prove a boon for commercial and industrial (C&I) developers. Panellists at the 20 September AIX Kenya roundtable predicted the environment will now become more favourable, following the election victory of William Ruto, after years when “we saw the government and utility push back on the C&I space owing to its revenue implications”.

Chronic power unreliability remains a blight in Nigeria – with half a dozen grid collapses so far this year – while the national grid remains woefully under-powered. Nigerians remain dependent on diesel and other back-ups, while big commercial and industrial (C&I) investments are being made by large private sector players. African Energy examines how the Dangote Group is becoming one of the country's major electricity generators.  

Supermajor Shell has acquired Nigerian commercial and industrial (C&I) developer Daystar Power for an undisclosed sum. The Lagos-headquartered firm’s co-founders and management team will remain in situ. Daystar also announced plans to expand into southern and eastern African markets.

The planned merger of Nigeria’s Starsight Energy and South Africa’s SolarAfrica reflects the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector’s continued rise, driven by the persistence of unreliable and expensive grid power in many African markets. Solar photovoltaic (PV) generation is rapidly growing as a source for C&I, according to trends identified by African Energy Live Data.

Nigeria’s Starsight Energy and South Africa’s SolarAfrica have announced plans to merge in a deal which, if approved by regulators, will join two of Africa’s largest commercial and industrial (C&I) renewable power developers into a pan-continental player with a portfolio of over 220MW of operated and signed generation capacity.

The construction phase of a 200MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project for mining and chemicals firm Tronox Holdings is set to begin after local independent power producer (IPP) Sola Group and African Rainbow Energy (Are) reached financial close on 9 September.  The facility has been described as the first utility-scale renewable energy (RE) captive power project in South Africa.

Bboxx has concluded its acquisition of PEG Africa, giving the ­London-based firm access to four more African markets – Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali – while it is also tying up with more major corporates, creating ventures with Orange in Democratic Republic of Congo and Unilever in Kenya.

Schools have joined an increasing number of electricity users turning to alternatives to state utility Eskom as the energy crisis continues to take its toll in South Africa. As many as 41 schools in Western Cape province, with a combined capacity of 25.87MW, have applied to the Ministry of Education for connection to distributed solar PV systems.

The government has responded to a long-awaited report on electricity tariffs by rejecting some key recommendations, notably the consultants’ call to move to cost-reflective tariffs by raising prices for residential customers while reducing costs for businesses, including mining companies, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka.

Growthpoint Properties continue its plan to install 20MW of solar capacity at properties across South Africa.

Norgold Group has commissioned a 33MW heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant at its Lefa gold mine project in Guinea. The $30m project will cut the mine’s fuel consumption electricity production by 15% and engine oil by 30% and result in a 17,000-ton reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The Ministry of Finance on 19 August invited investors to submit expressions of interest (EoIs) for the acquisition of up to 100% interest in eight state-owned enterprises (SOE) operating in the sugar industry.

The West African Transco CLSG transmission network is working to build a second 243MW line, begin energy trade with indebted Liberia and integrate C&I customers and renewable energy sources into the sub-regional network that covers Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The global take-off of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) is driving an evolution in contracts across the supply chain as companies push to achieve environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, writes Dan Marks.