Madagascar: Ambatolampy 20 MW solar substation energized


The Ambatolampy 20MW 20/63KV solar substation, built by Malgasy contractor ENERTEC MADA, was successfully energized on April 9th.

This marks a new critical milestone in the expansion of the Ambatolampy solar PV plant from 20MW to 40MW. The end of construction on the second phase of 20 MW had already been announced by AXIAN Energy’s CEO Benjamin Memmi back in February this year.

The initial 20 MW facility was developed by Green Yellow, an affiliate of France’s mass-market retail Casino Group, and has been producing clean power since 2018. It remains until today the largest solar plant in the Indian Ocean.

Malgasy conglomerate Axian eventually acquired 51% of the solar plant’s shares in June 2020 before embarking on an expansion to 40 MW while equipping the facility with a 5 MWh energy storage system.

Full details on the Ambatolampy Solar PV Plant in Madagascar are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

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MDXi Data Center has launched Lekki II Data Center expansion

Last week, MainOne further expanded its digital footprint in West Africa by launching its MDXi Lekki II Data Center. The expansion of the MDXi Lekki center by Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu notably followed the completion of MainOne’s acquisition by Equinix on April 5th. As a result, MainOne is now an Equinix company. Our plans include further expansion to the Lekki Campus to accommodate the requirements of global hyperscalers and regional businesses as we expand to connect the over 10,000 companies already on the Equinix platform. Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne.

Nigeria’s new Infrastructure Corporation opens for business

On April 8th, term sheets were signed between the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) and four independent infrastructure asset managers: Sanlam InfraWorks, Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), the AAA Infrastructure Nigeria consortium (comprising of Afrinvest, Africa Plus Partners, and ARC Asset Management), and Chapel Hill Denham. InfraCorp is a new privately-managed investment, infrastructure and industrial vehicle promoted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari had already cleared the way for the launch of InfraCorp by approving its initial seed capital of NGN 1 tn ($2.4 bn). CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele expressed confidence that a substantial portion of the NGN 15 tn ($35 bn) funding required for the first phase of the execution of InfraCorp was available locally. The asset managers are responsible for originating, structuring, executing, and managing end-to-end bankable infrastructure projects in Nigeria.