Karel Cornelissen, CEO, Noa Group

President Cyril Ramaphosa officiates at Bethal in Mpumalanga today as the first 155MW phase of Ummbila Emoyeni begins commercial supply. Standard Bank and RMB financed the R4.8 billion phase, the opening stage of a build planned to pass 900MW across seven phases.

Eskom has opened a request for qualification to find co-development and co-investment partners for up to 6GW of renewable generation and battery storage, the first phase of its new utility-scale renewables business. Eskom Green, being incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary, will contribute at least 2GW of solar and 1GW of batteries.

Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation formally established the Africa Energy Bank at its inaugural general meeting in Abuja on 31 October, appointing Helmy Ghazi as its first president and constituting a board for a lender that will finance the energy value chain from exploration to distribution.

Engr. Chijioke Okwuokenye, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc, on the waste-to-power plant AEDC has begun discussing with the Federal Capital Development Authority and its plan to close its metering gap by the first quarter of 2028, as demand around Abuja grows faster than the network built to carry it.

Bwalya Chilufya-Musonda, Partner at Bowmans Zambia, on why private investors are turning to Zambia’s power sector, as the National Energy Compact sets out $11.9bn of generation and transmission investment to 2030, with $9.5bn expected from the private sector and installed capacity planned to more than double to 10,000MW.

Owen Silavwe, Managing Director of Copperbelt Energy Corporation, on financing Zambia’s largest solar plant through CEC’s own green bond and on the cross-border trade it sees with the DRC, as the company hosts investors in Livingstone as Country Host of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit.

Aquaterra Energy has designed and fabricated a subsea template for Emadeb Energy’s offshore platform in Nigeria within six months, so that drilling can begin before the rest of the conductor-supported structure, now being fabricated at a Nigerian yard, is installed over the wellheads later this year.

Côte d’Ivoire’s energy minister, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, laid foundation stones for 152MWp of solar in the north of the country between 22 and 24 October, from a Katiola plant whose lenders are due to close financing within weeks to plants led by Ivorian capital at M’Bengué and by the Emirati group AMEA Power at Binguébougou.