Africa's Togo has become the newest entrant to the list of nations taking the help of the World Bank Group to explore PV technology. The Togolese Ministry of Mines and Energies has signed an agreement with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop 90 MW of solar power capacity under the Scaling Solar program.
The signing of this agreement is a result of various studies about the potential of solar in Togo conducted by IFC along with the national government since 2017. As per this research, 2 sites in Dapaong, 2 sites in Kara and 1 in Blitta were selected as potential installation sites.
Beyond this, the press statement by the ministry is short on details about the specifics. However, an environment news portal dedicated to Africa, Afrik 21 published that an expression of interest will be launched by IFC and the Togolese government under the arrangement to seek interested independent power producers to develop 90 MW solar PV capacity.
Electricity generated will be sold to the Togolese Electric Power Company (CEET). Projects will be financed through IFC loans and the IPPs will build and own the plants.
The World Bank has been supporting off-grid solar in Togo so far, and in April 2019 it approved $224.7 million for the Regional Off-grid Electrification Project to expand off-grid energy access to people in 19 West African nations and Sahel region including Togo (see World Bank Approves $224mn For Africa Off-Grid Solar).
Under Togo's Electrification Strategy, off-grid solutions are a priority to achieve universal access to energy by 2030. The country strives to connect 108 MW of renewable energy to the electricity grid under the strategy, the ministry stated.
The Scaling Solar program was focused on African markets until recently, but in June 2019 it expanded its ambit to include Uzbekistan as the 5th nation to join the same (see Uzbekistan Joins Scaling Solar Initiative).