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European funding agencies have teamed up to support a major regional clean energy plan, in an important step towards large-scale solar power development in the Sahara, writes François Misser in Brussels.

The administration is moving to strengthen the institutional focus on Morocco’s wind-focused renewables drive, with new legislation going through the works to encourage alternative energy, more private and state-funded projects under way, and a significant appointment to head the Centre de Développement des Energies Renouvelables (CDER), which King Mohammed VI agreed should become the state agency driving renewables policy following a national conference on energy strategy earlier this year.

Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, a Sri Lanka consulting firm, acting on behalf of Rwanda Mountain Tea, a privately owned tea producer based in Kigali, has invited pre-qualification applications for construction of a 5MW hydropower project on the Giciye River in northeastern Rwanda.

The 2009-10 budget earmarks record spending of $1.8bn for infrastructure to try to stimulate the country’s ailing economy and tackle long-standing problems such as energy shortages, writes Kimemia Mugo in Nairobi

Burkina Faso has embarked on the most aggressive biofuels programme in West Africa.

South Africa’s first private equity clean energy fund, the Evolution One Fund, raised $56m from offshore investors in 2008 and says it is now seeking projects to invest in.

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation has awarded contracts for an interconnection with Sudan. Bosnia’s Energoinvest will build the 230kV line, while Iran’s Sunir will reinforce existing substations in northern Ethiopia. The 297km line will run from Bahir Dar to Gondar and Shehedi, then to the Sudanese border.

The UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) has commissioned a study from the Adam Smith Institute to map the energy resources of the Great Lakes region.

Algeria's Ministry of Energy considers renewable options with solar a front-runner

Canada’s Cinergex Solutions is working on a second waste to energy project in Ghana, for a 20MW plant in Accra. The plant will be operated by Florida-based Solargy Systems, which specialises in small alternative energy projects. Solargy’s Michael Nurse told African Energy they had not yet concluded a power purchase agreement (PPA), as the final stages of negotiations had been delayed until after December’s elections.

The World Bank has selected a consortium of consultants led by Mott MacDonald of the UK to perform an economic, financial, and technical assessment of the 1,870MW Gibe 3 hydropower project on the Omo River (AE 132/9). The signing of a contract with the consortium also comprising Sogreah of France and the local AG Consult is pending negotiation of a final contract price.

The Johannesburg-based South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri) has been awarded the rights to host the Southern African Regional Secretariat for the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP).

The government has invited expressions of interest from consultants to undertake a study into the cumulative environmental impact of the 56MW Lom Pangar hydropower project and other potential projects in the Sanaga River Basin (AE 142/8).

A US company has announced plans for a waste-to-energy plant to process 1,000 t/d of solid waste in Kampala. California-based Carbon Jungle said its waste-to-fuel subsidiary Cobal-USA Alternative Fuels had received a pre-agreement from local partner Dag & Bragan accompanied by a letter of interest from Kampala’s mayor.

Philippe Edmonds’ latest venture, BioEnergy Africa Ltd, floated on London’s Alternative Investment Market on 1 September.