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After a three-year interruption, construction has resumed at a 36MW hydropower dam at the FE2 falls on the Okano River in Woleu-Ntem province. Engineers of the China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) told energy and water resources minister Guy Bertrand Mapangou during a 14 April site visit that the CFA23bn ($40m) scheme would be completed within three years.

France’s Engie announced on 10 May that work will begin shortly at the 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the Northern Cape, after a 20-year power purchase agreement was signed with Eskom. The plant is expected to begin operating in H2 2018. Kathu, which was selected as a preferred bidder in the CSP-specific third-round additional allocation of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme, will use parabolic trough technology and a molten salt storage system providing 4.5 hours of storage capacity.

The Mount Coffee hydroelectric power plant rehabilitation project is rushing to arrange compensation for around 500 people living along the two transmission lines that will take power from the plant to Monrovia. The issue needs to be resolved in time for the transmission lines to begin evacuating power when the first unit is connected to the grid, which is expected in December. Mount Coffee is expected to generate 88MW on completion, which is scheduled for August 2017.

The Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) is pressing ahead with the 300MW Koukoutamba hydro scheme on the Bafing River, which will cost an estimated $800m to develop. Koukoutamba is the first of three dams planned for the river, to be followed by the 160MW Bouréyah and 140MW Falayah schemes.It will be the biggest dam developed by the OMVS, which also developed the 200MW Manantali dam in Mali, the Diama dam which supplies water to Nouakchott and Dakar, and the 60MW Felou dam inaugurated in 2013.

Renewables developer Access Power has acquired the licence for the 100MW Sankana solar scheme in Ghana’s Upper West Region from Accra-based Home Energy Africa and is in negotiations on a power purchase agreement and put-call agreement. The Ghana Energy Commission gave Home Energy Africa, distributor for Dutch solar products manufacturer Home Energy International, a 100MW provisional wholesale supply licence in February 2014, and a siting permit for the 200ha site in November 2014. Project sources say finalising the put-call agreement, essentially a sovereign guarantee, is expected to take some time.

Engineering work for the 2,069MW Lauca hydropower dam on the Kwanza River is 77% complete and the electromechanical works are 46% complete, the state Médio Kwanza Development Office (Gamek) said at the end of April. The main contractor, Odebrecht Infraestructura, said in late 2015 that the first two of the six 334MW turbines should be installed in July 2017 by Andritz Hydro, with turbine tests following in August and at least two turbines operational by end-2017. The aim is to fill the 188km² reservoir during the first four months of 2017.

Finnish company Wärtsilä, a specialist in gas and liquid fuel-powered generation, has announced that it is moving into the development of solar and solar-thermal hybrid power plants. The company is offering engineering, procurement and construction delivery for solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants larger than 10MW as well as utility-scale hybrid systems based around coupling solar PV generation with its Smart Power Generation power plants. Wärtsilä is targeting markets in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and South East Asia and aims to generate annual sales worth €300m ($330m) by 2020.

Italy’s Enel Green Power and its lead engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor TerniEnergia have announced that the 75MW Paleisheuwel solar photovoltaic plant has begun operating in the Western Cape, near Bergvaley. The facility, which was selected as a preferred bidder in the third round of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme, is expected to produce more than 153GWh/yr. TerniEnergia Projects, a South African registered subsidiary of Italy’s TerniEnergia (80%) and South Africa’s Pele Green Energy (20%), began work on the project in March 2015.

Power, works and housing minister Babatunde Fashola, one of Nigeria’s two so-called super-ministers, has outlined a gradual and holistic approach to resolving the power crisis. Speaking in Lagos on 6 May, Fashola said the focus would be on thorough maintenance and rehabilitation of existing plants, improving the gas supply, and unlocking long-delayed projects. “We have resolved the framework for ultimately licensing over a dozen prospectors to generate over 1,000MW of solar energy,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Solid Minerals had been providing data on coal deposits for a possible coal power programme.

There has been speculation in the Ugandan media about the worsening situation at the 600MW Karuma and 183MW Isimba hydroelectric power projects. Reports say a rift between the Ministry of Energy and the Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL) has resulted in tension at the site between the ministry’s owner’s engineer, Indian firm Energy Infratech, and the main contractor China’s Sinohydro.

Norwegian state-owned SN Power has agreed to buy SG Bujagali Holdings (SGBH)’s stake in the 250MW Bujagali dam. The hydro plant is operated by Bujagali Energy Ltd, which is owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, SGBH and the government of Uganda. The other shareholdings will remain unchanged. Sithe Global affiliate SGBH is a Mauritian company indirectly owned by investment funds managed by Blackstone.

The US Power Africa initiative on 20 April signed an agreement with Dutch development bank FMO to spur investment in renewable energy across sub-Saharan Africa. Through the US Agency for International Development, Power Africa will commit $5m in support of FMO’s Climate Investor One (CIO) initiative, which finances and helps fast-track wind, solar and hydropower projects in sub-Saharan Africa. CIO targets renewable energy projects of between 25MW and 75MW, and shares Power Africa’s goal to add 30,000MW of new power generation capacity and 60m new business and household connections across sub-Saharan Africa.

The natural hot sulphuric springs at Hammam Pharaon in South Sinai governorate on the east coast of the Gulf of Suez were a popular tourist destination before security concerns scared off most international visitors. They may now represent the best indicator of a potential geothermal resource which will be studied by a joint venture agreed on 24 April by New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) chairman Dr Mohamed Sobky and Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company chairman Sherif Soussa. In a telephone interview with African Energy, Sobky said the new company study a pilot project at Hammam Pharaon, where “there is an early indication that we can utilise some of the geothermal energy”.

There was little surprise when SunEdison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 21 April, given the scale of its fall from grace – from nearly $10bn market capitalisation in mid-2015 to a 99% share price collapse and emergency asset sales less than one year later. The US developer’s crisis poses questions about the future of its substantial portfolio – which includes five projects with combined 371MW capacity in South Africa, awarded in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme’s expanded fourth round – and the health of the wider solar industry.

The Netherlands’ FMO on 15 April announced a $10.2m senior loan for the development and construction of a 5.4MW run-of-river hydropower project in western Uganda. The project will be developed and owned by Lubilia Kawembe Hydro Ltd, which is majority owned by Frontier Market Energy & Carbon Fund K/S, a Danish private equity fund developing a portfolio of renewable energy independent power producers in East Africa. FMO acted as mandated lead arranger of the facility, of which 50% was syndicated to the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund.