BURKINA FASO – UAE-based independent power producer (IPP) AMEA Power, has reached a financial close on the Zina solar power plant in Burkina Faso, with an installed capacity of 26.6MW.
The solar plant is being built by Zina Solaire, a project company fully owned by AMEA Power.
The project is being implemented in a public-private partnership (PPP) with the government of Burkina Faso.
The Zina solar project is financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IFC-Canada Climate Change Program, and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG).
Under the contract, the electricity produced at Zina will be sold to the Société nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso (SONABEL), under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
According to Africa Intelligence, the construction of the solar power plant has been entrusted to the Chinese company Sinohydro.
The plant is expected to impact the lives of 43,000 Burkinabes while avoiding the emission of 13,200 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
“Once built, the Zina solar project will provide affordable, clean power to thousands of homes and businesses by leveraging Burkina Faso’s abundant solar resources,” said Linda Munyengeterwa, IFC’s Regional Industry Director for Infrastructure in Africa.
It will be the second plant built by the Emirati IPP in West Africa, after the one in Blitta, which injects 50 MWp into Togo’s national electricity grid.
The project is in line with the government of Burkina Faso’s efforts to increase the country’s installed capacity of solar energy plants.
This explains the multiplication of projects carried out by IPPs. This is the case of Africa Ren, which is building a 38 MWp solar power plant in Kodeni, a town near Bobo-Dioulasso, the economic capital of Burkina Faso.
The plant will be 60% owned by Metier Sustainable Capital and the Dutch Development Finance Company (FMO, 40%).
Additional 30 MWp solar power plant, 40 km from the capital of Burkina Faso, is being built by the Société de production d’énergie solaire de Ouagadougou (SPES de Ouagadougou).
This special-purpose company is 95% owned by GreenYellow, the subsidiary of the French Casino Group, and 5% by Africa Energy Company.
Burkina Faso has an installed capacity of 568 MW for a population estimated at nearly 21 million.
In this West African country, 80% of the population still does not have access to electricity, according to Power Africa.
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