Source: AFP
The sun falls from a cloudless sky in the town of Boundiali, where Ivory Coast’s first solar plant embodies the desire to embrace clean energy without abandoning fossil fuels.
In contrast to the wetter, cloudier south, the climate in northern Ivory Coast bordering Burkina Faso and Mali is hot and dry for about eight months of the year.
“The radiation is very high” in the area, factory engineer Franck Alain Yayo told AFP, referring to the intensity of the Sun’s energy.
The Boundiali plant, which opened in June 2023, aims to improve the supply of electricity to more than 430,000 households, the energy ministry said.
Although Ivory Coast has about 10 smaller solar power stations serving villages locally, Boundiali is the first in the national grid.
Source: AFP
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The country, which already exports around 10% of its electricity to neighbours, aims to produce almost half of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that half the population of sub-Saharan Africa has no access to electricity.
And yet, he added in a recent report: “Africa is home to 60 percent of the world’s best solar resources, yet only one percent of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity.”
While the continent has doubled its capacity to generate clean energy in the last 10 years, African renewable energy sources still represent just 2% of global capacity.
Call for private funding
The northern Ivory Coast city has about 68,000 solar panels purchased from China, arrayed over 36 hectares (89 acres).
The panels convert sunlight, not heat, into electricity.
By the end of next year, the goal is to have double the number of panels to reach a production capacity of 80 MWp (Megawatt peak, a measure of maximum potential production).
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This would save around 60,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, authorities say.
Source: AFP
The 75.6 million euro ($82.1 million) construction cost of the solar plant was financed by Ivory Coast, a German loan and a European Union grant.
“This is the result of the EU’s long-standing commitment to renewable energy, with almost 140 million euros since 2017,” EU ambassador to Ivory Coast Francesca Di Mauro told AFP.
However, international public funding to support sub-Saharan Africa’s clean energy transition will not be enough.
Last year, the ILO called for private investment to increase to account for 60 percent of funding.
Solar power is currently a small part of Ivory Coast’s energy mix — the Boundiali plant contributes just one percent of national output.
Almost 70 percent of the country’s electricity comes from gas-fired thermal power plants, while hydropower plants account for the remainder, all located in the south.
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By 2030, Ivory Coast has pledged to increase its share of renewable energy to 45 percent, including nine percent solar power, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent.
However, fossil fuels still play a key role.
New oil and gas discoveries
The West African nation recently discovered two huge oil and gas deposits.
One of them, the Calao field, “will eventually meet the country’s electricity generation needs,” Energy Minister Sangafowa Coulibaly said.
Source: AFP
It may also help reduce electricity bills, which would be a welcome relief for households after prices rose by 10% in January.
“Every day the sun shines on our heads” production costs are “very low,” said factory engineer Yayo.
Yayo, who learned his skills in Burkina Faso, regretted that his country had neither the technology nor the know-how to train people.
Ivory Coast’s state-owned CI-Energies, which manages the Boundiali plant’s infrastructure, is temporarily subcontracting it to French civil engineering firm Eiffage.
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It is Eiffage that trains many of the employees, most of whom are local.
In this area of ​​about 92,000 people, about 350 have been hired since the plant began construction.
Most were undertaken on short-term contracts for solar panel installation or maintenance.
Among them was Oumar Konate, who previously worked in agriculture as well as odd jobs in the city.
Employment in the rural area was hard to come by, he said. “I prefer to work here. The pay is better. I can feed my family.”
Source: AFP