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Off-grid liquid generation remains a costly default option for retail customers in countries with unreliable grids. Half-a-dozen grid collapses this year in Nigeria have demonstrated how unreliable and underpowered the grid is, with diesel and other small genset backups estimated to comprise as much as 12GW of off-grid liquid capacity.

The government has secured support for development including a 140MW dual-fuel thermal power plant in Glo-Djigbé, the development zone some 45km from Cotonou. Completion is expected in 2024.

WinEnerji has reported a successful local start for its 23MW Zinder heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant in Niger. The Turkish engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor told African Energy it was also working on a 10MW plant in Malbaza for state utility Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec).

By 2027, almost 30% of Africa’s electricity will be generated using natural gas, a figure that rises to 45% if dual-fuel plants are included. Despite questions from some quarters over its applicability as a ‘transition fuel’, African Energy Live Data expects 18.3GW generated from natural gas to come online by 2027. However, the project pipeline to 2027 also shows that the share of the continental energy mix taken up by gas is declining in favour of a bigger role for renewables.

The ground-breaking power purchase agreement signed by independent power producer Azura Power in 2013 is again being targeted by a National Assembly probe. Azura has been widely seen as a model for private investment in the electricity supply industry, but pressure continues as politicians seek a way out of a deal they see as too costly, writes Adaora Elemide in Abuja.

Driven by a political imperative to fix the more than decade-long electric power crisis, General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol) has pushed through a massive round of maintenance at eight of its gas-fired power plants to prepare them for expected increases in demand during the winter.

Nigerian independent Green Energy International (Geil) says it could invest up to $750m over the next three years to boost output at the Otakikpo field to 25,000 b/d. Geil is also due to commission a 6MW gas-to-power (GTP) plant and a 12m cf/d modular liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) extraction plant.

Governors of the country’s 36 states have taken legal action to stop the federal government privatising five of the ten power plants developed under the Nigerian Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) initiative.

As part of efforts to address a shortage of power supply, the Zambian government is to support a revamp of the 110MW thermal-powered Ndola Energy Company on the Copperbelt.

Additions of renewable power generating capacity are proceeding more slowly than expected in markets with weak grids, such as Nigeria and Malawi. In response, developers are assessing potential solutions including increased baseload capacity and ancillary services agreements.

A consortium of American and Japanese firms will carry out a feasibility study into the use of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power technology in Ghana.

Tunisia’s EPPM Group expect to start construction of offshore methane gas facilities and a 30MW gas conversion power plant on the DR Congo lake shore in early 2023. EPPM says it is in talks with lenders for a financial close that will finally allow the much-anticipated project to go ahead.

Turkish concessionaire Aksa Enerji has formally returned the 50MW Djéno gas-powered plant to service. Aksa has a 30-year concession to operate the plant and expand it to 100MW over the concession period.

Ratings agency Moody’s gave a positive response after the government said it would assume up to two-thirds of troubled Eskom’s debts, but several bailouts have failed in the past and there are doubts about the latest plan’s likelihood of success in meeting the ultimate goal of creating a sustainable utility.

Morocco has made much of its response to Algeria’s withdrawal from the Maghreb-Europe Gas (GME) pipeline, which delivers natural gas to the kingdom and Spain. An investment in re-engineering the GME has allowed the government to buy LNG landed in Spain to be supplied to the 385MW Tahaddart and 470MW Aïn Beni Mathar combined cycle plants.