The government of Burkina Faso through the Ministry of Energy has announced the start of construction of two solar power plants one with a capacity of 20 MW in Koudougou, in Boulkiemdé province located in the country’s Centre-Ouest Region, and the other with a capacity of 10 MW in Kaya, in Sanmatenga province located in the Centre-Nord Region.
Engie SA, the French multinational electric utility company headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie will construct the parks, and the transmission lines and substations will be installed by Engie subsidiary Ineo Energy and Systems in collaboration with five other companies including India’s Mohan Energy Corporation and Unitech Power Transmission, Chinese entities TBEA and Shandong Taïkai Power Engineering and the IMPSDI consortium formed by China’s Inner Mongolia Electric Power Survey & Design Institute and Kenyan engineer Kesec.
Also Read: Burkina Faso invites bids for construction of four PV solar power plants
Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo, the Burkinabe minister of energy said that these companies have between 12 and 14 months to complete the work. The US$ 73.5M is funded by the Burkinabe government with a World Bank loan under the nation’s Electricity Sector Support Project.
Strengthening three inter-urban links with electricity distribution stations
The government of the West African country also intends to strengthen three inter-urban links with electricity distribution stations. According to Société Nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso (Sonabel), an 83 kilometer 225 kV transmission line will be built between the towns of Pâ and Diébougou while the second link, a 225 kV line will be constructed over a distance of 60 kilometers connecting the towns of Ziniaré and Kaya, and the third link, a 90 kV line will link Wona and Dédougou which are 60 kilometers apart.
The solar parks and the new infrastructure will inject 48.86 GWh which is around 2.5% of the nation’s demand into the electricity network and help stabilize the grid.
