- Burkina Faso launched a 30MWp solar power plant.
- The government and GreenYellow developed the plant under a PPP.
- The Solar IPP will sell the energy from the plant to the state utility SONABEL.
Burkina Faso’s government is launching the Nagréongo solar power plant. The plant, which has a capacity of 30MWp, was built through a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Burkinabe government and the French company GreenYellow.The plant, located in the eponymous Nagréongo commune in the Plateau-Central region, about 30 kilometres northeast of Ouagadougou, will supply energy to the national electricity grid.
The power generated by the plant will be sold to the National Electricity Company of Burkina Faso (SONABEL) under a power purchase agreement. The Netherlands Development Finance Company provided a loan of €21 million. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank Group subsidiary, provided guarantees of up to 4.5 million.
According to GreenYellow, “this project responds to the energy challenge facing Burkina Faso, which has one of the weakest electricity networks in sub-Saharan Africa and high energy demand. The country’s level of sunshine makes it ideally suited to meet these energy security challenges through the development of solar photovoltaics.”
The Burkina Faso government is focused on expanding energy access with large-scale solar projects. The West African country has an installed capacity of only 568MW, with about 88MW provided by renewable energy sources.