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Bushveld Energy and South African investment firm Nesa Investment Holding have signed a shareholding agreement for a 3.5MW solar PV system and 1MW/4MWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system.

Finland’s Wärtsilä has announced a five-year performance-based service agreement for a 20MW power plant combined with a 40MW plant extension at a gold mine in Africa. The Helsinki-headquartered firm did not name the mine, but industry sources told African Energy it is the open-pit Tasiast gold mine.

South Africa’s SolarAfrica has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Vantage Data Centers’ new site in Johannesburg with 87MW of solar power. The contract will see power wheeled over the grid from a site in the Northern Cape, with the aim of helping Vantage and its clients meet their net zero requirements.

Construction of the Lephalale solar PV plant that will power Exxaro Resources’ Grootegeluk coal mine in Limpopo province is scheduled to start in early 2023, following approval of the project by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

Natixis Investment Managers affiliate Mirova has acquired off-grid renewables debt specialist SunFunder, as part of a plan to build up its African portfolio.

South Africa’s transmission shortfalls are having ramifications across the value chain. Sola Group chief executive Dominic Wills told African Energy that access to limited substation space was becoming problematic across South Africa, not just in the Northern Cape.

Private equity fund manager African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has taken a majority stake in three solar plants being developed by mining company Harmony Gold in South Africa.

Investors in Africa’s power sector have been forced to fight aggressively for the most promising projects, as they have become frustrated with a lack of on-grid opportunities. Trends that emerge from African Energy’s industry soundings and analysis of project flow in the African Energy Live Data (Live Data) platform include investors taking advantage of technological and business innovation – as well as the availability of climate-linked finance – to move into commercial and industrial (C&I) solar.

Hotel group Mango Tree Beach has installed solar PV plants with a combined capacity of 1MWp at three of its four hotels in Zanzibar.

Namibian Stock Exchange-listed Alpha Namibia Industries Renewable Power (Anirep) has secured a contract to build and operate an 18.5MW solar plant at Kokerboom in Keetmanshoop, with Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb as the off-taker.

Ngodwana Mill’s biomass energy plant in Mpumalanga province came on stream in March, with capacity to burn up to 35 t/hr of biomass to generate steam and drive a turbine to generate electricity which is fed into the national grid, shareholder Sappi Southern Africa spokesperson Zelda Schwalbach told African Energy.

Crippling foreign exchange shortages have led Starsight Energy to refinance its debt to two development finance institutions through local currency funding from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund.

Lagos-based renewables developer Daystar Power has installed a 1.6MW rooftop solar plant for Ghandour Cosmetics in Ghana.

Construction work has begun on two solar PV plants with a combined capacity of 30MW being built for cement manufacturer PPC Zimbabwe. 

The European Union-funded Electrification Finance Initiative (EDFI ElectriFI) has extended a $3.1m loan to German C&I solar power provider Redavia to enable it to expand its business in Ghana and Kenya.