The City of Cape Town in South Africa has signed two 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling 70 MW with independent solar power producers. The agreements will supply 30 MW from JEMPEC in Atlantis and 40 MW from Make A Difference LLC in Philippi. The city said the power will cost 19% to 21% less than current Eskom rates, with price increases linked to the Consumer Price Index rather than Eskom tariff increases. The two agreements are expected to cover about R8 billion of electricity purchases over 20 years. The city said that the deals are part of a competitive procurement program targeting up to 200 MW from independent power producers (IPPs), with additional agreements expected in the coming months.
“The deals will help reduce reliance on Eskom, provide greater price predictability through CPI-linked increases and support Cape Town’s transition to cleaner energy,” stated the City of Cape Town.
CrossBoundary Energy’s solar PV and battery energy storage project for the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is now online. The project includes 233 MW of solar PV and a 526 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). It is designed to provide at least 30 MW of firm baseload power to the mine under a PPA with Kamoa Copper, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, and the DRC government. The project reached commercial operation on August 12, 2026, and will enable Kamoa-Kakula to produce low-carbon copper.
SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of POWERCHINA, has announced the full commercial operation of the Saudi Red Sea Utility Infrastructure Project, an integrated energy and utility development in Saudi Arabia. SEPCOIII delivered the project under an EPC contract, and it is part of the country’s Vision 2030 program. The project combines solar PV generation, energy storage, power grid systems, seawater desalination, water supply, wastewater treatment, solid-waste treatment, communications, and district cooling. SEPCOIII describes it as the world’s first large-scale commercial utility facility integrating multiple complementary energy and utility systems, without specifying their individual capacities.
Earlier in 2021, SEPCOIII had announced Huawei Digital Power as the BESS supplier for 1,300 MWh capacity to be integrated with a 400 MW solar PV system for the Red Sea Project. At the time, it called this the world’s largest energy storage project of its kind (see World’s ‘Largest’ BESS In Saudi Arabia). SEPCOIII said the project also set a Guinness World Record in 2025 for the world’s largest off-grid battery energy storage project by capacity.
Canadian renewable energy company JCM Power has entered Mozambique with a 30 MW solar project. The Manje Solar PV Project is located in Tete Province. It won the project under Mozambique’s PROLER renewable energy tender program, which is supported by the European Commission and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). JCM Power said it will work with the Mozambican government and state utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) to advance the facility.
Lunsemfwa Hydro Power Company (LHPC) has announced the commissioning of a 27 MW solar PV plant in Zambia’s Central Province. It claims this is the country’s first solar-hydro hybrid facility. The plant operates alongside LHPC’s existing 56 MW hydropower capacity and is connected to the national grid. The solar plant is designed to generate during daylight hours, allowing water in the hydropower reservoir to be conserved and used to increase hydropower generation during evening peak demand. Construction of the solar power plant began in September 2025 and was completed ahead of schedule. The commissioning follows Globeleq’s acquisition of a 51% stake in LHPC from Norfund in March 2026. LHPC operates two hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 56 MW and is developing additional solar and hydropower projects.
CEI Africa has invested €2 million in Spark, a Netherlands-based provider of modular solar home systems and off-grid energy solutions. The funding will support Spark’s financing initiatives and expansion of services for distribution partners across sub-Saharan Africa. The investment will also support the initial rollout of Spark Catalyse and Spark Connect through which it aims to strengthen financing and connections across the off-grid energy sector.
Niger has signed a public-private partnership agreement with Niger Electricity Power Production (NEPP) to construct a 200 MW solar PV plant with battery storage in Niamey. According to the Nigerian Press Agency, the project is valued at 126.1 billion FCFA, and will be developed under a 20-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement. Construction is expected to take 24 months, including additional studies. Electricity generated by the plant will be sold to Niger’s national utility, NIGELEC, at 35 CFA francs per kWh. The project is expected to help improve electricity availability and reduce the country’s reliance on imported power.
