Burkina Faso’s race to reach 200 MW of solar capacity by this year has been lifted by the announcement this morning of plans for another 30 MW project near the town of Pa, 250 km southeast of Ouagadougou.
The facility will be 80 per cent financed by a euro 29 million loan from the London-based Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund which is financed by the governments of the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.
The balance will be provided by the developer, Montpellier based renewables business Urbasolar SAS, which is owned by Swiss energy group Axpo. Urbasolar was selected as developer after a tender held by the energy off taker for the project, Burkinabe state-owned electric utility La Societe Nationale d’electricite du Burkina Faso.
A press release issued by African PR company APO Group this on 16th March morning on behalf of the multilateral non-profit Private Infrastructure Development Group of which the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund is a member stated the Pa plant would help the West African nations to reach the 200 MW, 2021 solar target set by Burkinabe minister of energy, mines and quarries, Bachir Ismael Ouedraogo.
The press release stated financial close on the funding is expected “by the 2nd quarter” and construction is expected to require 18 months, although no date was given for the start of building of a project it is estimated will cost euro 35.4 million. The project will feature monocrystalline panels and string inverters.
The APO Group statement said Burkina Faso is anticipating 280 MW of new renewable energy capacity to be installed over the next three years.
London based PIDG is financed by the International Finance Corp private sector arm of the World Bank and the governments of the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany and the U.K.
