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Biovea Energie intends to develop a biomass power plant in the southeastern part of the Ivory Coast.
- The project, which is expected to cost €200m, has received €165m from AFD and PIDG.
- Electricity will e generated from oil palm waste.
French Development Agency’s (AFD) subsidiary Proparco and Private Infrastructure Development Group’s (PIDG) Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) have provided a total of €165 million in loans to Biovea Energie for the development of a biomass power plant in Ivory Coast. BioveaEnergie is a subsidiary of Électricité de France (EDF), Meridiam and Biokala. The project, which is expected to cost €200 million, will be sited in Ayébo, in the country’s southeastern part.
EDF will construct the plant while Biokala will manage the biomass supply chain during the plant’s lifetime. The biomass to be utilised is oil palm waste which the company will source from 12,000 farmers. The plant will have two units of 23 MW each for a cumulative capacity of 46 MW. has signed a 25-year concession agreement with the Ivorian government. Biovea Energie will sell the electricity generated to Compagnie Ivoirienne d’électricité (CIE) under a 25 years power purchase agreement (PPA) at a tariff of 62 CFA francs (€ 0.09) per kWh.
Proparco believes that the Biovea project will support the development of a sustainable agro supply chain. Biovea estimates that the project will provide 500 local jobs during the construction phase over 1,000 jobs during the operation phase. The biomass plant is expected to reduce CO2 emission by 340,000 tonnes annually.