Africa

Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity is set to open the largest solar power plant in the world in the Benban area of Aswan Governorate in the coming days, boasting a total of 32 plants with a capacity of 1465 MW, Youm7 reported on Tuesday.

Mali is set to host one of the world’s largest off grid solar+storage projects, as a 30 MW solar plant will soon be coupled with a 17MW/15MWh storage facility to power the Fekola gold mine. Finland’s Wärtsilä will supply the battery.

A unit of Dubai-based Amea Power will build the project in Blitta prefecture, in the center of the West African country, with all electricity to be sold to Togo Electric Power Co. (CEET) under a long-term power purchase agreement.

The innovative solar-powered solution for turning salty water into fresh water suitable for consumption has been installed in Kenyan village of Kiunga, on the Indian Ocean Coast.

EDF Renewables and Egyptian developer and supplier of solar power KarmSolar have signed a strategic partnership, helping the former continue its expansion into the African state.

France’s largest state-owned utility company has invested unrevealed finances into KarmSolar. The latter has installed a 165-megawatt solar pipeline throughout Egypt. The Egyptian startup supplies power to large-scale industrial, agricultural and commercial customers.

Deals have now been rubberstamped for Zambia to use small-scale solar to strengthen its climate-vulnerable power supply, in a scheme bankrolled by development financiers.

An Egyptian scientist has discovered a new way to achieve optimal electricity generation by hybrid generators with the help of power point tracking. The newly created permanent magnetic synchronous generator for wind-solar is based on multi-input rectifier converters. It is supposed to get rid of harmonic currents with no need for additional input filtering.

The Italian oil and gas provider has signed a concession agreement with the government of the African oil country to build a 50 MW solar plant. The project is expected to be in the province of Namibe and will be part of the nation’s plan to deploy 600 MW of solar by 2022.

Univergy International headquartered in Spain and Japan is planning to invest over $200 million in two photovoltaic projects in Zambia.

Two PV plants are set to be built under the Project for Promotion of Auctions for Renewable Energies program, being implemented with the support of Mozambican utility Electricidade de Mocambique, which is likely to be the future off-taker of the solar energy generated.

Saudi Arabian energy company ACWA Power has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Government of Egypt on Wednesday develop, finance, construct and operate the 200MW Kom Ombo photovoltaic plant in Egypt.

The local authority is seeking proposals to build mini-grids with generation capacities of more than 5 kW to power hospitals, markets, water pumping and street lighting. The council has expressed a strong preference for the build, operate and transfer project development model.

Industry body Gogla and the World Bank’s Lighting Global program said the last six months set a record for off-grid solar deployment. Solar home systems and other small off-grid appliances are being used in ever larger numbers.

The Algerian Electricity and Gas Regulation Commission has concluded a tender launched in June. The one solar project selected will sell power at DZD8.28/kWh. The authority reportedly only published ceiling prices for energy bids on the day the exercise was completed.