$500 million partnership: The world’s 4 energy majors – bp, Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies – have announced a $500 million joint investment commitment to create a positive energy impact in key global regions with affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Their focus will be on investing in solar home systems (SHS), mini/metro grids, clean cooking solutions, and enabling technologies including e-mobility, energy storage and management solutions. They seek to promote promising, high-impact projects, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. A global private equity firm is on board to manage this joint investment.
“With this new joint initiative with our peers, we are activating another lever to contribute to high-impact local projects to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 by 2030,” said TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.
Qualified bidders: The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has released the list of qualified developers for round 6 of the qualified developers for 4.5 GW of renewable energy capacity development. It launched the pre-qualification round for 3 GW of solar and 1.5 GW of wind energy projects in September 2024 under Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program (see Saudi Arabia Launches Call For NREP Round 6 With 4.5 GW Capacity). For solar PV independent power producer (IPP) projects, the shortlisted companies are:
Masdar and JERA NEX Limited
Alfanar Company CJSC and POWERCHINA
EDF Renouvelables, China Power Engineering Consulting Group and International Engineering Co. Ltd.
Kahrabel FZE of Engie Group and POSCO INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
FAS Energy KSA LLC and Saudi Electricity Company
Jinko Power (HK) Company Limited
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO)
Marubeni Corporation
Nesma Renewable Energy
SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Corporation
TOTALENERGIES RENEWABLES SAS
Al Jomaih Energy & Water Co. Ltd.
Sembcorp Utilities Pte Ltd
Al Gihaz Holding Company
Korea Western Power Co., Ltd.
The entire list of qualified developers is available on SPPC’s website.
Masdar & SRF join hands: Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Masdar has entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s Silk Road Fund (SRF) to explore potential co-investment opportunities for renewable energy projects. These will be located in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries, primarily in the developing world and global south, including the Middle East and Africa regions. They will establish a strategic partnership to pursue such opportunities in renewable energy projects developed, invested in or operated by Masdar. SRF plans to invest up to RMB 20 billion ($2.8 billion) in projects alongside Masdar. SRF says its renewable energy portfolio in the BRI regions exceeds 7 GW.
$140 million for RE in Africa: CrossBoundary Energy has secured a $140 million senior debt commitment from the Standard Bank of South Africa for its commercial and industrial (C&I) projects in Africa. It is part of up to $300 million senior debt that the bank will arrange to support the company’s renewable energy portfolio catering to the C&I clients in the continent.
100 MW South Africa solar project advances: Pele Green Energy (PGE) has announced achieving the financial close of its 100 MW Sonvanger Solar PV Power Plant in South Africa. Located in Free State province, it will supply clean energy to power Glencore-Merafe Venture’s Ferrochrome smelters. PGE is the lead sponsor of the plant. The company said this is the 1st utility-scale project closed by a sole sponsor and a single independent power producer (IPP) in South Africa.
Green hydrogen pilot project: German hydrogen and methanol fuel cells company SFC Energy AG is participating in a pilot project under which green hydrogen will power decentralized energy systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Under the pilot project GH2GH, a pilot installation for the production, storage and on-demand reconversion of green hydrogen has been implemented for the completely off-grid energy supply of the Don Bosco Solar & Renewable Energy Centre in Tema, Ghana. Bochum University of Applied Science and Green Power Brains are co-partners of SFC for this project. SFC has provided a 20 kW electrolysis system and an energy solution for the project that’s installed with 4 EFOY Hydrogen 2.5 fuel cells and a total output of 10 kW for green hydrogen cycle. They are trying to explore the economic efficiency and potential to supply power to more people in rural Sub-Saharan Africa in a self-sufficient manner.
JA Solar expanding in Africa: Chinese PV manufacturer JA Solar has shipped 2.32 MWh commercial and industrial (C&I) energy storage systems to Africa. It comprises BluePlanet liquid-cooled outdoor storage cabinet. It claims the system maintains a temperature variation of less than 3°C between cells, helping projects achieve over 90% AC-side efficiency. JA explains that this system features lightning-fast switching with a transition time of less than 20 milliseconds, enabling seamless operation across grid-connected, off-grid, and generator-powered modes. This is the company’s maiden shipment of its C&I energy storage systems to the continent. These units will be installed in Nairobi and Kisumu cities in Kenya.