Kevin Nyango
Ghana and Senegal have 20 MW solar plants, but now Burkina Faso is set to lead West African states by having a 50 MW solar plant in the region. The project is set to be installed in near Ouagadougou, the capital city on a 55 hectares land. The test phase of the project lasted for six weeks at 145 MW level, and it is set to reach its production capacity in December 2017. Cegelec, a French electrical engineering company, is in charge of the project. The company is part of Vinci Energies, and at the Zagtouli site, a 17 MW extension is being planned as the site will take overall production capacity of 50MW. The 33 MW capacity is set to come online the second week of December 2017.
Burkina Faso has been importing energy from Ivory Coast as it only produces 60% of the energy it consumes. The tariff will be set at $0.084, and the plant is likely to reduce constant energy shortages in the country. The total cost of construction of the plant is estimated to be €47.5 million, and financial aid was received from France’s development agency and European Union (EU) each contributing €25 as loan and donation respectively.
The state has other plans underway for setting up a 10MW project and 20MW at Kaya and Koudougou respectively.
