- Burkina Faso is set to construct a 30MW solar power plant.
- Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) via the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) will provide the funds for the project.
- Burkina Faso targets generating 200 MW of energy via solar power plants by 2022.
Burkina Faso is set to construct a solar power plant. The facility will be located near the town of Pâ, about 250km from the capital Ouagadougou. The plant will have a capacity of 30MW with a total peak power production of 29,967.84 KWp. The energy produced by the plant will be supplied to the state utility company La Société National D’électricité Du Burkina Faso (SONABEL) via a 2km cable to a nearby sub-station.
The private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) via the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) will provide the project’s funds. The developer, Urbasolar SAS, will receive 80 per cent (€29 million) of the project’s capital from the EAIF. The project is scheduled to achieve a financial close in Q2 2021. Urbasolar was selected after a competitive tender process by SONABEL. Urbasolar will build and operate the plant, and construction is expected to be completed within 18 months.
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Arnaud Mine, president of Urbasolar and Emmanuel Kaboré, Urbasolar Regional Head – West Africa, noted that the project results from the willingness of the Burkinabé president, Rock Marc Christian Kabore, and the government to increase the country’s energy supply by promoting private investment through a public-private partnership. They also noted that the developer is pleased to work alongside the government and the national energy utility, SONABEL, to reach Burkina Faso’s target of generating 200 MW of energy via solar power plants by 2022.
EAIF portfolio now contains over 20 clean energy projects across Africa. The investor has provided about $350 million in loans to private sector developers leading to the deployment of about 825MW of clean energy.