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The African Development Bank and Korea Eximbank will jointly provide $114m to finance the national electricity grid system and resolve transmission gaps in western Kenya.

There are pockets of progress in building infrastructure across Democratic Republic of Congo, with commercial operators and development finance institutions supporting a range of projects. But with eastern regions traumatised by violence and an uncertain election looming in December, the country remains as challenging an environment as ever, writes Jon Marks.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed triumphantly announced on 10 September that the fourth and final filling of the $4.2bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) reservoir had been completed, raising the 74km3 reservoir’s water level to 625 metres; last year’s third filling had brought levels to 600 metres.

Ivanhoe Mines has opted for commercial and industrial (C&I) supply from an independent power producer (IPP) for its Platreef project in Limpopo province, becoming the latest large South African offtaker to respond in this way to the woeful performance of utility Eskom.

German development bank KfW has offered a €200m ($214m) loan to Eskom to help the state utility  improve transmission grids in the Northern and Western Cape, as western nations look to step up their support for South Africa’s creaking electricity system.

Cairo is pressing on with the implementation of its existing electricity supply industry (ESI) strategy in the face of severe headwinds. Some major reforms, including energy sector liberalisation, are certain to be delayed, but the authorities continue to drive big ticket projects forward – and to pile on new ones – while striving to keep international investors on-side in a highly precarious financial situation.

Egyptians are hoping for cooler weather and with it the end of severe rolling power outages which have caused difficulties throughout the summer. However, the social and economic legacies of the electricity supply crisis will outlast the ferocious Mediterranean heatwave, which has provided the government’s only – but far from satisfying – explanation for why the outages happened, writes John Hamilton.

A joint venture of British engineering firm Enshore Subsea and Belgian hydraulic specialist Herbosch Kiere has been awarded a $200m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build 17.5km of 220kV land and submarine lines from Bel Air in Dakar to Cap des Biches.

Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZEC) has requested bids for two lots of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) transmission works on Unguja island, as part of the Zanzibar Energy Sector Transformation and Access Project.

Gambia’s National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) has requested bids for substation and low voltage (LV) line works as part of the Gambia Electricity System Reinforcement and Expansion (Gesrp) project.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed the little-known Edgar Moyo as his energy and power development minister in a new, bloated cabinet – in which the re-elected president stirred up a storm by naming his son David Kudakwashe Mnangagwa (Kuda) as deputy finance minister and his nephew Tongai Mnangagwa as deputy tourism and hospitality minister.

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines is expanding its use of hydroelectric power (HEP) wheeled across state utility Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel)’s grid to support its mining activities in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Haut-Katanga province, which include the world-scale Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

A target construction date has been set for the Ilute solar PV plant following the signing of an implementation agreement between the government and off-taker Africa GreenCo Group. Nairobi-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Serengeti Energy and Zambian partner Western Solar are jointly developing the project.  On completion, it will be Zambia’s first plant to sell power to a private intermediary offtaker.

The Cuamba solar PV plant, which includes 2MW/7MWh of battery energy storage, has started commercial operations, according to developer Globeleq.

‘Last mile’ access software and hardware provider Okra Solar has secured fresh debt and equity in a series-A round of financing intended to scale up its mesh-grid technology for off-grid projects in Nigeria.