Africa

An international consortium led by Powergrids plans to invest $100 million in three off-grid solar plants intended to power the cities of Gemena, Bumba, and Isiro, which are located in the country’s northern region and currently have no connection to the country’s power network.

The Nagréongo power station is located about 30km northeast of Ouagadougou and scheduled for commissioning at the end of 2021.

Engie energized two facilities with capacities of 35 MW and 25 MW, respectively, in the central part of Senegal. The two plants will sell power to the local grid under a 25-year PPA at a price of XOF25/kWh ($0.046).

European researchers have estimated the potential of floating PV deployment at Africa’s existing hydropower reservoirs which exceed 5 MW in size, by using satellite images and hydropower reservoir data. Under the most likely scenario presented in the study, utility scale floating solar may reach a capacity of more than 20 GW by using less than 1% of the water surface area at 108 hydropower plants spread across the continent, assuming a capex of €0.40/W.

The Khoumagueli Solar IPP project will sell power to local utility Electricité de Guinée (EDG).

The tender is expected to be launched between June and July and to be divided into ten lots of 100 MW each. Domestic content requirements for modules, cables and mounting structures should be included in the procurement exercise.

Canadian mining company Trevali will buy power from a solar plant located near its Rosh Pinah mine under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

A 50 MW project is being planned by French company Legendre Energie and a 33 MW facility is under development by Scatec.

Diamond Trading Company Botswana is seeking proposals for a 600 kW ground-mounted PV plant to power operations at its mining site in Gaborone.

The five solar-plus-storage facilities will be located in Zambézia and Nampula provinces.