IFC opens $1.8m credit line to get big DR Congo project over the line
A 100 MWac solar farm planned in the Katanga region will be boosted by an additional credit line after the International Finance Corporation and the British and Norwegian government-owned Globeleq came on board.
Chad’s first solar-plus-storage project secures funding
The development entity driving the first stage of a planned 60 MW solar plant has announced a doubling in the amount of borrowing secured for a project which was supposed to be operational in 2018.
Mauritius unveils new home and business rooftop solar programs
One of the schemes is linked to household and commercial electricity customers who want to install a PV array to charge electric vehicles.
Scatec lands PPA for Lesotho’s first independently built solar plant
The nation’s first independently developed solar farm will have a generation capacity of 20 MW and will sell electricity to the national utility under a 25-year contract.
Cheaper wholesale solar equipment through $10m group-buying fund in Nigeria
Two investors backed by the charitable foundations set up by energy giants have seed-funded the cash pot to lend to African solar companies, who will be able to buy solar kit cheaper thanks to the economies of scale offered by the aggregation of orders.
African Energy Week highlights lack of support for renewables
The closing day of the African Energy Week event held in South Africa this month heard voices casting doubt on a renewables-only energy transition and calling for a gradual change and continued investment in petrochemical production.
Malawi’s first grid scale solar project will shortly be followed by a second
The 20 MW Golomoti PV project will include 10 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage in a first for the sub-Saharan African market, according to its London-based joint developer.
‘Africa should harness green hydrogen, not just export it’
Instead of using its abundant cheap renewable energy potential to generate the gas simply to feed the appetite of industrial consumers in Europe and elsewhere, Africa could attract the heavy manufacturing sectors concerned, such as steelmakers, to its shores, the African Energy Week event heard.
Soft drinks business wants to be biggest industrial solar user in Nigeria
An initial 1.44 MW of solar panels this year appears to have impressed the Seven-Up Bottling Company sufficiently to persuade the business to opt for another 10.5 MW of arrays on its factories.
Irish developer secured half the projects in latest South African renewables tender
The weighted average cost of the electricity to be generated by the latest 975 MW fleet of solar projects procured by a national tender program has fallen more than 50% from the level recorded in the last such exercise, which was abandoned six years ago.
