Dona Jean-Claude Houssou, the Minister of Energy of Benin recently announced that the power capacity of the Illoulofin solar power plant will be increased from the initial 25MWP to 50 MWP.
The minister made the revelation when he visited the projects site in the city of Pobè in the southeast of the West African country where Eiffage Énergie Systèmes, the energy branch of the French group Eiffage has already completed 60% of the entire work.
“The construction work is progressing according to schedule. Most of the equipment, which includes 47,212 photovoltaic modules with 530 Wp each, string inverters, and six 3 MVA conversion stations, have been delivered and we are now in the assembly and installation phase,” explained Ludovic Duplan, Eiffage general manager for international activities.
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Illoulofin Solar Power Plant phase 1
The first phase of the Illoulofin Solar Power Plant that is financed to the tune of over US$ 72M within the framework of a partnership between the European Union (EU), the French Development Agency (AFD), and the Sbee, will produce 35 GWh of electricity per year upon completion.
The electricity will be fed from the source station Pobè into the network of the Beninese Electricity Company (SBEE) and distributed to cover the energy consumption of 180,000 people.
According to Eiffage, the facility will also avoid the emission of 23,000 tons of CO2 equivalents per year or 575,000 tons over the life of the solar power plant, which is estimated at 25 years.
