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The commercial use of thermolysis or pyrolysis to convert organic waste into biofuels, syngas or pure hydrogen is still experimental in Africa, although the underlying technology is relatively well-established elsewhere. Most of the 22 operating biogas power plants recorded in African Energy Live Data use other methods. Early adopters of the technology include the Ford Silverton plant in Pretoria, H2-Industries and Oak Group Holdings in Egypt, Ghana’s Kumasi Technical University and the British Nigerian Pyrogenesys-led consortium. Success for any one of them will open wide new commercial opportunities, while also helping to address pressing environmental concerns.

UK-based private equity fund Actis has secured a “an impact-linked revolving subscription credit facility” for its Energy 5 Fund. The fund, which will target energy transition investments, closed with $6bn of investable capital in October.

The German-backed Nitric Acid Climate Action Group (Nacag) is financing fertiliser manufacturer Sable Chemicals project to design, install and commission nitrous oxide (N20) abatement technology and emissions monitoring equipment at its plants in Kwekwe, central Zimbabwe. Sable has launched a tender with a bid deadline on 14 June.

While advocacy groups are posing questions about the funding of the Lake Albert upstream scheme – and putting pressure on banks not to participate  – operator TotalEnergies on 9 June told African Energy that project financing for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) was being provided by shareholder equity and external debt, which is “being arranged with interested international financial institutions”.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) project has emerged as an important element in French NGO Reclaim Finance (RF)’s campaign against the financing of oil and gas projects. RF campaign manager Guillaume Pottier told African Energy that the group was aiming “to ensure financial institutions no longer directly or indirectly support the development of new oil and gas”.

Commodity trading giant Vitol is setting up a joint venture with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (Nsia) to invest in carbon reduction and offsetting programmes. Nsia chief executive Uche Orji said the new venture would provide “an enabling platform to trade carbon credits”.

Progress has been reported on a $400m compressed natural gas (CNG) plant on the shores of Lake Kivu, at Bwishyura, in the Karongi district of Western Province. Methane gas from Lake Kivu will be converted into CNG, which will be used as a substitute for petrol and diesel fuel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

Amea Power’s memorandum of understanding with a strategic group of Egyptian state entities places the UAE-based power developer among a small but growing number of investors contributing to building a green hydrogen hub at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal

Thanks to a combination of high solar radiation and superlative wind resources, the massive, largely desert zone along north-west Africa’s Atlantic coast has become a focus for huge projects in what is starting to look like a new scramble for Africa. Recent developments include Chariot and Total Eren positioning themselves to take advantage of the emerging business opportunity in the production of green hydrogen in Morocco and Mauritania. This follows close on the footsteps of CWP Global and Xlinks. Others such as Harmattan Energy are looking at the disputed Western Sahara (under a UN mandate). As the number of prospective schemes grows, so too will the pressure to secure land rights and authorisations – a familiar issue for businesses with long track records in securing upstream and mineral rights across the continent.

Sasol and the Northern Cape’s development body are expected to complete prefeasibility work on a 5GW green hydrogen plant in September, with a full feasibility study to begin soon afterwards.

Mauritania's petroleum, mines and energy minister Abdessalam Ould Mohammed Saleh has signed a partnership agreement for the 10GW Nour green hydrogen (GH2) project. The agreement paves the way for a feasibility study and offtaker assessment.

While western partners focus on renewable energy, Eskom chief executive André De Ruyter and general manager for just energy transition Mandy Rambharos has restated the utility’s commitment to developing new gas capacity.

The Africa Carbon Market Initiative (ACMI) was formally launched at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, with the aim of generating 300m carbon credits a year by 2030, which would lead to $6bn in revenue. Several African countries – including Kenya, Malawi, Gabon, Nigeria and Togo – have signalled their intention to collaborate with ACMI, to scale up their voluntary carbon markets (VCM).

The global take-off of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) is driving an evolution in contracts across the supply chain as companies push to achieve environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, writes Dan Marks.

After three years of slow growth in adding generation infrastructure to the continent’s grids, capacity additions reached new lows in Q2 2021, with only 751MW of net on-grid capacity added – the lowest figure since at least 2013, according to African Energy Live Data. This was in part due to Covid-19, but other factors are at play too which suggest recovery will not be immediate