Arnold Simwaba

G7 members agreed on 2 October to release 100 million barrels of diesel, petrol and crude from emergency reserves over four months, with a front-loaded diesel release in the first twenty days. Brent eased to around $100.8, but the fuel African importers buy most will take longer to reach their pumps.

Nigeria's private sector expanded at its fastest pace in more than four and a half years in September, with the Stanbic IBTC Bank PMI rising to 56.4 from 54.3. New orders and output grew at their quickest since February 2022, while fuel costs pushed purchase prices to a three-month high.

Sipho Phiri chairs Kwama Energy, which co-developed Ilute, the Zambian solar plant he calls Africa's first non-recourse merchant power station. Speaking to ENN, he argues that generation is increasingly solved and that Southern Africa is already inside a transmission constraint, with lead times that leave very little room.

Qair has drawn the first funds under a €37.9 million package for two hybrid solar plants near N'Djamena, combining 30MWp of solar with 8MW and 8MWh of battery storage. The African Development Bank and Proparco each lent €15.2 million, under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Tchadelec.

Mercuria and Exergy signed a $250 million financing agreement in Lusaka on 25 September, covering generation and transmission projects run by two Exergy subsidiaries. It is among the largest private commitments made to Zambia's power sector and the commodities group's first move into the region's electricity market.

Senegal's energy minister told a briefing in Dakar on 1 October that the state will invest close to 400 billion CFA francs to electrify 6,471 localities by 2029. The commitment follows a September in which Dakar lost around 200MW from a single plant failure during a heatwave.

The Ministry of Electricity and Energy has delayed the final request for proposals for Phase One of the Independent Transmission Projects programme. Previously scheduled for the current quarter, the competitive bidding window for the 1,164-kilometre grid infrastructure corridor is now deferred to the second quarter of 2027.

The Federal Government has raised ₦728.9 billion through the Series 2 issuance of its power sector bond programme, taking the total raised in nine months past ₦1.23 trillion. The money settles verified debts owed to generation companies rather than building anything new.