- Ivory Coast considers energy storage for Boundiali’s solar power plant
- Saft, Subsidiary of Levallois-Perret, France, was granted the project
- Ivorian authorities predict the upcoming project to service 40,000 inhabitants
Ivory Coast relies on electricity storage to mitigate the impact of the intermittency inherent in solar power plants. The authorities are considering a means of storing electricity as part of the 37.5 MWp Boundiali solar project being implemented by Côte d’Ivoire Energies (CI-Energies) in the country’s north. Saft, a firm established in Levallois-Perret, France, was granted the contract to install this electricity storage system.
The contractor for the Boundiali solar project, Eiffage Énergie Systèmes, a part of the French business Eiffage, picked a TotalEnergies subsidiary. Saft will deploy its Intensium Max High Energy technology in the Bagoué region. In concrete terms, the company, headed by Cédric Duclos, will install six containers equipped with lithium-ion batteries capable of storing 10 MW of electricity.
Energy conversion and medium voltage power plant systems will be compatible with the 13.8 MWh storage system. According to Saft, the electricity storage system will boost capacity and lessen the impact of solar plant output intermittency, ensuring predictable and reliable power to the local grid.
The Ivorian authorities predict that the upcoming solar power plant in this town of more than 40,000 inhabitants will service 30,000 families while avoiding 27,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. However, the project will require a €40 million investment to complete. The Ivorian government is counting on two sources of funding: a €27 million loan from the German development agency Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and a €9.7 million grant from the European Union.
The Boundiali project, which was billed as Ivory Coast’s first solar project when funding agreements were signed in 2019, is years behind schedule, having been surpassed by other initiatives, including the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) “Scaling Solar” program.