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Reports in the Kenyan press say Kenya Power (KPLC)’s deal for hydroelectric power imports with Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) cannot be renegotiated for five years.

Construction has begun on Endeavour Mining’s $448m Lafigué gold project in Côte d'Ivoire’s Hambol region. The London-and-Toronto listed miner owns 80% of the project, with the remaining 20% split equally between the state and the parastatal Société pour le Développement Minier de la Côte d'Ivoire (Sodemi).

Growing electricity demand, chiefly in booming Democratic Republic of Congo mines, is expected to underpin Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC)’s recovery after a tumultuous period . But the sluggish performance at the debt-laden Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines threatens CEC’s resurgence.

Troubled utility Liberia Electricity Corporation is expected to sign a much-anticipated import deal with Ivorian counterpart CI Energies on 21 October, following months of negotiations over outstanding payments. It comes as President George Weah has extended exempt status for equipment imports, while more HFO purchases are planned and work is planned to repair malfunctioning thermal and hydropower plants.

Uncomfortable financial disputes are expected to dominate the 27th United Nations Climate Change (COP27) conference, to be held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh on 6-18 November. African nations may achieve progress in some areas – perhaps by forcing the vexed question of compensation for loss and damage onto the agenda – but the meeting will likely once again fail to identify a way forward for electricity supply industries (ESIs) across the continent.

Southern African Development Community (SADC)  officials met recently to exchange ideas on how to structure a Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility (RTIIF) and to sound out prospective backers. The facility is intended to help countries overcome the capital-intensive nature of energy infrastructure projects through pooled resources. African Energy has been told that approvals are now being sought from SADC finance ministers, who are considering the proposal.

Mozambique is among the sub-Saharan countries that has been making progress installing more power transmission capacity, with new lines connecting under-served centres to improve state utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM)’s grid.

Lusaka-based Africa GreenCo has reported trading over 2,000MWh of energy on the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) competitive markets since August. Mauritius-registered GreenCo started active electricity trading in July.

Business leaders want to believe the ‘hustler nation’ promised by incoming president William Ruto will be marked by entrepreneurial vigour rather than spotty governance. Kenya has huge potential, but in an economy struggling with an enormous debt burden, grand visions such as a 100% renewable power sector by 2030 may be difficult to achieve, write Marc Howard and Jon Marks.

Diamonds have served Botswana well in over five decades since independence, helping it to move from poverty to upper middle-income status, but Gaborone has grown dependent on gemstones and accelerated economic diversification is needed to exploit other potential resources – including coal and transition minerals. At the same time, moves to end state domination of a coal-based energy sector have moved only slowly.

Schonau Solar Energy (SSE) has become Namibia’s first independent power producer (IPP) permitted to sell electricity to the South African Power Pool (SAPP) grid.

Work on the Continental System Master Plan (CMP) is advancing via three main streams. In late 2021, a team of energy system modellers started to put together demand forecasts for all African countries. This in itself was a revolutionary process. One of those involved told African Energy the approach used until now by the power pools “was not based on any robust methodology. They were taking the numbers from the national utilities but they didn’t have to be validated or checked.”

The prospect for an entirely reconceptualised plan for building electricity transmission interconnections across the African continent inevitably refocuses attention on the many existing schemes in the project pipeline – some of which are advancing while others do not. African Energy has evaluated the most important projects now under development, including the main export projects from North Africa.

Planning is well under way for the Continental System Master Plan, but this unprecedentedly ambitious development for Africa’s electricity supply industry still faces huge hurdles, which must be overcome before the scheme to connect every utility and power pool in Africa via a continent-wide transmission grid can be implemented. African Energy staff have examined the progress to date and assessed how this may galvanise the stuttering progress of existing transnational interconnection projects, with data support from Vendela Werkeli.

Twelve Southern African Development Community (SADC) projects spanning the energy, water and transport sectors have been selected by the regional bloc’s Project Preparation Development Facility (PPDF) to receive a total of $20.2m in project preparation funding. The projects are to be funded by the European Union (EU) and Germany’s KfW Bank, SADC said.