The Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) is providing financial support for the use of floating an LNG power plant in Senegal.
Particularly, the East African country’s bank has granted US$ 60M participation in the syndicated project finance facility of US$ 140M to Karpowership, an inventor of modern Powerships.
The finance facility will enable the İstanbul, Turkey, based company to run its 235 MW Powership dubbed the Karadeniz Powership Ayşegül Sultan, which is contributing to around 15% of the West African country’s electricity supply from the shores of Dakar since August 2019.
Shift from the use of heavy fuel oil to gas
The MCB financing facility comes amidst plans to shift the powership from the use of heavy fuel oil to gas. This fuel switch-over will generate a material reduction in the country’s fuel bill with a positive spill-over effect on electricity costs.
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The Powership’s fuel transition will be enabled by a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (“FSRU”), which following successful sea trials, has departed Singapore and is expected in Senegal in the coming weeks. The FSRU was made by KARMOL, a joint venture between Karpowership and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.
Being the first power generation plant fueled by gas, the Powership will lay the foundation stone of Senegal’s plan to diversify its energy mix. Moreover, the use of gas will enable the West African country to cut its carbon emission and contribute to its ambition to shift primarily to natural gas for its power production by 2035, thereby reducing further the national grid’s emissions factor.
Remarks on the Powership’s syndicated project finance facility
Zaahir Sulliman, the Head of Specialised Finance for MCB, said that the bank is proud to be contributing towards Senegal’s universal electrification goal and its transition from reliance on heavy fuel oil to LNG for its electricity production.
He also revealed that MCB is aware of its responsibility in the face of the climatic emergency and that it is looking forward to increasing its participation in “projects that foster energy production whilst promoting both climatic and environmental friendliness in an endeavor to increase living standards”.
