Sub-Saharan Africa

RES4Africa Foundation brings attention to the role of solar PV in addressing the water, energy and food crisis in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries. The region is characterised by abundance of sunlight, coupled with scarce availability of agricultural land and freshwater resources to feed its fast-growing populations.

A handful of projects are now exploring for “natural” hydrogen, also known as “white” hydrogen. pv magazine speaks with Adam Bumby, associate professor of structural geology at the University of Pretoria, about the HyAfrica project and the geological strata and structures that are most suitable for hydrogen storage.

Saudi Arabia-based energy developer ACWA Power says it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with state-owned utility Eskom for a 442 MW solar facility with 1200 MWh of battery storage in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.

More than 200 entries from across 39 countries made up the field for the pv magazine Awards 2023 and there was genuine innovation on display in all categories. Significant demands have been placed on the solar and energy storage industries in 2023, but that hasn’t stopped the sector from making great leaps in performance. The winners of the pv magazine Awards 2023 serve as shining examples of what can be achieved through a continuous improvement philosophy.

Philippe de Donato and Jacques Pironon, researchers at a French laboratory, are actively searching for white hydrogen in collaboration with gas company Française De l’Énergie. Pironon told pv magazine that they plan to continue exploration next year to confirm their thesis that deeper digging yields more hydrogen.

South Africa’s new auction is the first to be held under a December 2022 government plan to procure 14,771 MW of new generating capacity.

Researchers from Norway have discovered that adding batteries to projects that combine hydropower and floating PV could increase annual profits by as much as 2%, due to revenues from ancillary services and capacity markets.

Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment is inviting eligible bidders to apply to develop 40 solar-powered “packages” for water schemes in a range of locations in the East African country.

The Namibian government is looking for consultants to provide development, environmental and advisory services for a range of renewable energy projects, including solar, wind and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

A consortium of financial institutions last week announced they co-invested $52 million to help finance the development of a 50 MW greenfield project in Sierra Leone titled Planet Solar spearheaded by Frontier Energy and Planet One Group.