- Toyota Tsusho has signed a contract with Benin Republic to construct a solar plant that will be completed in 2024.
- The project is the first large-scale renewable energy power plant a Japanese company would construct in West Africa.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation has concluded a contract with Beninese Electricity Production Company, under the Ministry of Energy and Water, to construct a 25 MW solar power plant in the Pobè region of the Republic of Benin. This project is the first large-scale renewable energy power plant a Japanese company would set up in West Africa.
According to the firm, it conducted a project development study with the Benin government’s support under the “Feasibility Study Project of Overseas Development for High-Quality Energy Infrastructure” programme by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in FY2021. Toyota Tsusho further disclosed that it would promote the construction of this large-scale solar power plant as a Japanese public-private partnership project that is a lower cost stable source of electricity.
“After making optimised proposals based on local electricity conditions, the project was approved by the government of Benin. The 25 MW solar power plant, one of the largest in Benin, will be constructed in the Pobé region with RMT, a German EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) company, a subsidiary of the EIFFAGE Group. Construction work is scheduled to be completed in 2024,” the company stated.
Toyota Tsusho has expanded renewable energy generation in Africa, including completing a geothermal power plant, the largest power provider in Kenya (total of 280 MW), in 2015. The company also started commercial operations for a wind power project in Egypt (capacity of 262 MW) in 2019.