In Ivory Coast, a first solar power plant to accelerate the energy transition

On the border with Burkina Faso and Mali, two Sahelian countries, the climate in northern Ivory Coast is hot and dry for around eight months a year, unlike the humid and cloudier south.

“The irradiance (the emission of light rays, editor’s note) is very high” in this region, explains to AFP Franck Alain Yayo, operations engineer of the Boundiali photovoltaic solar power plant, the first in the country connected to the national network.

There are around ten other solar power plants, much smaller, which serve a few villages locally, he specifies.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that one in two people does not have access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa even though 40% of global solar radiation affects this region.

And if the continent has doubled its clean energy production capacity in 10 years, African renewable energy only accounts for 2% of global capacity.

In Boundiali, 68.000 solar panels purchased in China, in a row over 36 hectares, receive sunlight - and not heat - to transform it into electricity, since the plant was commissioned in June 2023, two years after the start Works.

By the end of next year, the objective is to double their number to reach a production capacity of 80 MWp (megawatt-peak, the maximum electrical power) which would save some 60.000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. year, according to authorities.

The overall cost of the plant is 75,6 million euros, financed by Ivory Coast, a German loan and a donation from the European Union.

“This is the result of a long-standing EU commitment to the renewable energy sector, with almost €140 million since 2017. Other power plants will follow, as well as the rehabilitation of hydroelectric dams or the valorization of biomass", explains to AFP the EU ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire, Francesca di Mauro.

But the international public funding that supports sub-Saharan Africa in this transition will not be enough. In 2023, the IEA called for “accelerating private investments” so that they represent 60% of clean energy financing.

And at present, solar remains a drop in the bucket in the Ivorian energy mix: the Boundiali power plant contributes 1% of national production.

Electricity comes mainly from gas-fired thermal power plants (nearly 70% of national production) and hydroelectric power plants (around 30%), all located in the south of the country.

By 2030, the country has committed to increasing its share of renewables to 45%, including 9% from solar, and to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

“Very low” cost

However, there is no question of abandoning fossil fuels: Ivory Coast recently found two enormous deposits of oil and natural gas.

One of them, the Calao deposit, discovered in March "will ultimately make it possible to meet the country's needs for electricity production", according to the Minister of Mines, Oil and Energy, Sangafowa Coulibaly.

Enough to perhaps hope to reduce the electricity bill, whose 10% increase in January caused Ivorians to grumble.

“Every day the sun shines on our heads”, the cost of production is “very low”, assures Mr. Yayo, in Boundiali.

This engineer trained in neighboring Burkina Faso regrets that his country has neither “the technology” nor “the expertise” in training.

The Ivorian public company CI-Energies (Côte d'Ivoire Energies), responsible for Boundiali's infrastructure, temporarily subcontracts with the French group Eiffage, which trains a large part of the employees, most of whom are residents of the area.

In this territory of approximately 92.000 souls, some 350 people have been hired since construction of the plant began. Most are hired on short contracts to install solar panels or provide maintenance.

Oumar Konaté is one of them: before, he worked in agriculture, in addition to "odd jobs in town", as a "mason's helper". “I prefer to work here”, “the salary is better” and “I can feed my family”, he says, recalling that in this town in the rural north, it is “very difficult” to find work.

“We had to correct an injustice,” says Affa N’Guessan, responsible for recruiting for the center, via his agency, Humans job.