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UAE-based Masdar and its local partner Infinity Power have signed a power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company for electricity from the planned onshore wind farm.

A deal has ended a three-month suspension of oil shipments from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, enabling the resumption of significant Nigerien production – and vital foreign exchange earnings for Niamey. Meanwhile, the Nigerien junta has appointed a new oil minister with intriguing connections and has signed a deal with Algiers to restart work at a northern oil block, writes Marc Howard with Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou.

The award for the prospective wind and battery energy storage plant in Mzuzu could see Malawi finally start to make use of its excellent wind resource. 

The agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power marks further progress for the $620m Aysha plant, which will be the largest wind power facility in the Horn of Africa.

Utility EDM is in advanced discussions with floating power plant provider Karpower for a new “up to 500MW” powership and floating regasification unit that would supply both domestic and regional Southern African Power Pool offtakers. The prospective development fits into EDM’s LNG-to-power plans, but questions remain over when feedstock from Mozambique’s onshore LNG megaprojects would be available, writes Marc Howard

Africa-focused renewable developer Amea Power has announced significant milestones for two projects. The Dubai-headquartered firm has started construction work on a 24MWp PV plant in Uganda and signed a deal to add a further 30MWp of PV and 10MWh of storage to its already-operating 70MWp/5MWh Togolese plant.

Utility LEC has signed a deal to progress Liberia’s first solar PV plant and expects to expand capacity at its operational Mount Coffee hydro namesake by 50%. Another 150-200MW of hydro and a separate 16.5MWp solar PV plant are also under negotiation or have studies underway, pointing to what could be Liberia’s largest ever increase in on-grid capacity, writes Marc Howard.

Plans to add over 500MW of solar PV capacity by 2028 would go some way towards balancing Mali’s energy mix. Pricey and polluting liquid fuel-fired capacity remains by far the dominant source of generation, but funding from the World Bank Group and a new 200MWp solar project backed by Moscow would add substantial renewable capacity, writes Marc Howard.

Revised in August 2024, this map provides a detailed view of the power sector in Mali. The locations of power generation facilities that are operating, under construction or planned are shown by type – including liquid fuels, natural gas, hybrid, hydroelectricity, solar PV, wind and biomass/biogas. An inset provides greater detail for Bamako and the surrounding area. Generation sites are marked with different sized circles to show sites of 1-9MW, 10-99MW and 100-499MW. Existing and future transmission and distribution lines are shown ranging from 90kV and under to 330kV. Actual and planned cross-border interconnectors are also shown including lines to Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania and Senegal. Power generation data was drawn from our African Energy Live Data platform, which contains project level detail on power plants and projects across Africa. The map is presented as a PDF file using eps graphics, meaning that there is no loss of resolution as the file is enlarged.  

The issue leads with an examination of the state of utilities across Africa. Despite the enormous need for investment in new transmission and distribution capacity and rehabilitating existing infrastructure, there is precious little private sector involvement in African utilities. The old model of state-dominated, vertically-integrated utilities has conspicuously failed to expand access or lower costs, yet it continues to exercise a hold over governments. African Energy Live Data's latest analysis focuses on Mali, where plans to add over 500MW of solar PV capacity by 2028 would go some way towards balancing the country's energy mix. Power coverage also includes news from Zambia where the National Pension Scheme Authority is to provide half of the $400m cost of adding 300MW to the MCL coal-fired plant in Sinazongwe, after international investors steered clear of the project. The issue also takes a closer look at the mini-boom in uranium mining that is underway in Africa, with investors raising debt and equity finance to advance several greenfield projects, while mothballed mines are brought back online. The energy transition and geopolitical imperatives have created a more favourable environment for the nuclear power sector, but political risks are especially acute when it comes to uranium, as demonstrated by the recent sudden decision by Niger’s government to cancel two mining licences. Oil and gas coverage includes a focus on Niger – also the subject of the African Energy View – where Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tiani’s Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP) junta is celebrating a year in power amidst security chaos and economic woes. African Energy also reports on the decision by TotalEnergies and its partner Canadian Natural Resources to withdraw from offshore Block 11B/12B in South Africa, raising difficult questions for the local PetroSA. The state-owned body had been hoping to use gas from two discoveries on the block to revive its shuttered 45,000 b/d Mossel Bay gas-to- liquids (GTL) refinery in the Western Cape. Finance and policy coverage includes a look at French President Emmanuel Macron’s intervention on the Western Sahara question, which adds another level of complication and irritation to international relations in north-west Africa.

Solar PV solar and battery capacity has already taken an important share of Mali’s off-grid commercial and industrial (C&I) generation market. The installation of these systems is likely to go further despite the inherent risks in the market.

Russian sponsorship of Mali’s largest under-development solar PV plant has raised eyebrows in the industry. It represents an unusual departure for Rosatom and depends on the warm ties between Colonel Assimi Goïta’s regime and Moscow.

President Emmanuel Macron’s intervention on the Western Sahara question adds another level of complication and irritation to international relations in north-west Africa. His motive in spelling out support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory in a letter to King Mohammed VI, which he must have known would be immediately leaked to the media, is hard to explain. It puts major French business interests in Algeria in peril and will aggravate regional tensions. All sides will have to work hard to avoid an accidental escalation.

Reeling from the suspension of exports from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, the military regime in Niamey has sought to relaunch its mothballed NOC as an upstream player. It has also looked at reviving a tie-in to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline – an option previously rejected in favour of the NBEP, and is preparing expressions of interest for a new 100,000 b/d refinery.

The CNSP regime has triumphantly commemorated the anniversary of its ousting of President Bazoum. But the festivities merely distract from a worsening security situation that has seen major oil investor CNPC suspend work in the Agadem Rift Basin, part of a $7bn investment including a pipeline which remains idle over a dispute with Benin. Niger’s woes lay bare the folly of the chauvinistic politics advanced by the Sahel’s juntas, writes Marc Howard.