Sub-Saharan Africa

Corporations in the auto industry, battery manufacturing and mining have joined forces to establish reliable due diligence reporting on raw minerals. Volvo will be among the first to move on the issue by putting its cobalt supply chain under scrutiny early next year.

The microgrid utility has raised enough capital from Shell New Energies to deploy systems across sub-Saharan Africa.

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.

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 regulator received 26 proposals overall for a project intended to make the kingdom less dependent on power imports from troubled South African utility Eskom.

Canadian business Caledonia Mining Corporation plc wants to build a power plant at its Blanket mine near Gwanda, in southern Zimbabwe.

The South African utility has issued a 20-strong tender for 50 kW solar inverters and mounting structures, to be used in four power plants. Although it is unclear whether the tender marks the energy company’s first step into solar energy, the procurement follows the recent publication of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan. Eskom is reportedly developing a renewables-linked large scale storage project which may explain the need for inverters.

The nation’s Central Procurement Board, on behalf of utility NamPower, has announced a tender to select an engineering, procurement and construction services contractor.

Renewable energy is rapidly being adopted by mining companies as the combination of off-grid power and cheaply available renewables offers a strong business case.