Singrobo hydropower project in Ivory Coast gets clearance to begin construction

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Singrobo hydropower project is to commence after Neo Themis (Themis), a leading project developer and investor with an exclusive focus on incremental renewable power generation assets in Sub Saharan Africa, issued full notice to proceed (FNTP) to Eiffage Group, for the construction of the 44 MW project.

Eiffage Group is a French civil engineering company that won the contract to implement the US$ 195M Singrobo hydropower project in 2018 after the completion of an international competitive bidding process. As per the contract, the group will construct a mixed rockfill and concrete dam of a height of 23.50 m and a length of 1,374 m, on the Bandama River in the villages of Singrobo and Ahouaty between Abidjan and Yamoussoukro, to form a 105 million m³ reservoir that will be used to drive the turbines of the power plant.

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Furthermore, it will also build a discharge channel for the Singrobo hydropower project power station, a 90 kV switchyard (a substation), a 3km line connecting the power station to the grid, and access roads.

The Singrobo plant is expected to be operational come 2023, supplying electricity to the Ivorian national utility Cienergues under a 35-year power purchase agreement (“PPA”).

The expectation for the project

The project is expected to employ at least 500 people during the course of its construction, and it is also expected to provide 217 GWh of affordable electricity per year to industries, businesses, and local communities and reduce carbon emissions by 124,000 tonnes per year in the West African country when operational.

It has been designed to avoid and minimize negative environmental and social impacts in compliance with African Development Bank Operational Safeguards and International Finance Corporation Performance Standards.

Themis is supported by Denham Capital and the government of Ivory Coast on the project, under a public-private partnership (PPP) and it is financed by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and IHE Holding, a local development company.