Gabon has inaugurated its first utility-scale solar project. The Ayémé PV plant is located in the Plaine-Ayeme area of northwestern Gabon, around 30 km from the country’s capital, Libreville.
Solen SA Gabon, a subsidiary of Solen Renewable Dubai, built and operates the project, with an initial capacity of 11 MW, according to local media outlet L'Union.
The company reportedly said it aims to expand the facility to 30 MW under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with state utility Société d'Energie et d'Eau du Gabon (SEEG). The project is expected to power 300,000 homes and create 150 direct jobs.
The plant, announced in 2021, faced delays and reductions in funding after construction began in August 2022. Initially planned as a 120 MW project split into two 60 MW phases, it was scaled back during development.
At the inauguration, President Brice Oligui Nguema highlighted the project as a symbol of the nation's commitment to sustainable development and climate action.
“It is indeed an important milestone in the production and distribution of clean, sustainable and modern electricity, thus illustrating our country's commitment to improving access to energy and the fight against climate change,” he said.
Gabon’s electricity mix currently relies on hydropower (47.7%), natural gas (35%), oil (16.9%), and biofuels (0.3%), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The country reported just 1 MW of installed solar capacity at the end of 2022, unchanged since 2021, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.