The government of Mali has given the go-ahead to Phanes Energy Mali-SA, a subsidiary of the Phanes Group, an international solar energy developer, investment manager, and asset manager, headquartered in Dubai, UAE to construct a 93 MWp photovoltaic solar power plant in Touna, a commune in the Cercle of Bla of the Ségou Region in southern-central Mali.
Phanes Energy Mali-SA has already signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the public company Energie du Mali (EDM-SA) for the project which is estimated to cost US $129m “excluding taxes and customs duties”.
Construction will take one and a half years to be complete and once commissioned, the facility is expected to supply electricity to the West African Country’s national grid for a period of 25 years.
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Increase to the country’s energy supply and share of renewable energy in the national grid
According to authorities in the Malian government, this photovoltaic solar power plant project will increase the country’s energy supply through a clean and low-cost source of energy which will as well contribute to the increase in the share of renewable energy in Mali’s electricity mix. The government of Mali aims to ramp up the country’s share of renewable energy in the national electricity mix to 25% by 2033.
The project is also expected to significantly increase energy production in the country while lowering the average cost of electricity which is in line with the government’s main energy objectives. The West African country has recently embarked on a series of solar projects such as the recently commissioned 50 MW solar plant in Kita, which is Mali’s first IPP solar project towards the realization of this goal.
Also, a contract was signed at the beginning of this year for the construction of a 100 MW solar power plant in the municipality of Diéma.
According to statistics the country only had 20 MW of cumulative installed solar capacity by the end of 2019.
