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Wale Shonibare, Director of Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulations at the African Development Bank, tells ENN that much of the money for Nigerian power is already in the country, and sets out where the 16 states running their own electricity markets are opening to investors ahead of Nigeria NOW! in Abuja.

Guinea is building three alumina refineries on a grid of about 1,000MW, and as NJ Ayuk takes up the question Elias Pungong asks in Mining the Future, whether Africa keeps exporting raw ore or builds the industries it could power, governments and financiers are putting reliable power at the centre of processing at home.

Solar will make up more than 80% of the new renewable capacity sub-Saharan Africa installs to 2031 under the IEA’s Renewables 2026 forecast, which puts distributed systems at 42GW and expects South Africa and Nigeria to account for almost half of the region’s additions.

Trymore Sharata, Director of New Sahara Ventures, tells ENN that the first 5MW from the Sunports Energy solar plant in Mashonaland East has effectively turned its local feeder into a net generator, and sets out how the site will grow towards more than 100MW in blocks of 20MW.

ZimZam 2026 met in Livingstone to celebrate how Zambia and Zimbabwe have drawn foreign investment into power, and the week’s signings gave the theme its evidence, among them Western Power Company’s financing mandate for Ngonye Falls and the arrangers Vungu Solar appointed for its plant in Gweru.

Lagos has signed power purchase agreements for up to 400MW of new generation this year, and its regulator has licensed 14 new operators. Writing for ENN, Richard Walker of FirstWord Media looks at the investment now reaching Nigeria’s biggest electricity market and the licensing questions operators still face.

FMO is considering up to €146.5m of senior debt for Tamba Solar, a 100MWp plant in Tambacounda whose 180MWh battery would hold two and a half times the storage of AXIAN’s Kolda project, with its output contracted to Senelec for 25 years under a sovereign guarantee.

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, says procurement has begun on a $2bn East-West Super Grid with capacity for at least 19,000MW, alongside repairs that have taken supply to the Lagos complex past 1,000MW and a technical audit of power assets, some of them more than 50 years old.

Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba says the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project has given Tanzania the capacity to generate more power than it currently uses, with 4,646MW installed against a 2,271MW peak when the 2,115MW plant was commissioned in August, and a surplus the government hopes to sell to neighbours including Zambia and Kenya.

ENN’s Women’s Voices series puts the same three questions to women making the decisions in Nigerian energy and mining. Felicia Dairo, Executive Director of the Nigerian Indigenous Women in Mining and Natural Resource Organisation (NIWIMNRO), tells ENN where investors should look as Nigeria pushes to process its own minerals, and how women are organising to negotiate.