Financial Guarantee For 30 MW Sahel Project

• GreenYellow has raised €4.5 million guarantee from MIGA for its 30 MW solar power plant in Africa's Burkina Faso
• It will be located in Nagréongo municipality of Oubritenga province and is contracted to supply power to Sonabel
• The project is part of 3 solar power plants with 102 MW combined capacity in Burkina Faso that MIGA is supporting

The World Bank Group's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has issued a guarantee worth €4.5 million to support a 30 MW solar power plant in Burkina Faso, covering its equity and quasi-equity investments into Société de Production d'Energie Solaire de Ouagadougou SAS (SPES Ouagadougou) for up to 20 years.

The project is owned by France's GreenYellow and set to come up in the Nagréongo municipality of Oubritenga province. It is contracted to sell power generated under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with national utility Société Nationale d'Electricite du Burkina Faso (Sonabel).

According to MIGA, this facility is anticipated to be among the 1^st independent power producers (IPP) in the African country and demonstrate viability of private investment in the country's solar power sector.

"Moreover, the project has the potential to diversify Burkina Faso's energy mix, decrease its dependency on less environmentally friendly fossil fuels, and generate cost savings to consumers and the government," added MIGA.

Burkina Faso has one of the lowest electrification rates in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, with only 357 MW of installed power generation capacity, according to MIGA, comprising mostly ageing and expensive heavy fuel oil generation. The country also relies on energy imports from Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Hence there is a 'high level of unmet demand' which the government plans to cover up with the help of 'competitive domestic electricity generation option'—solar energy that's in abundance in this sunny country.

SPES Ouadougou project will be backstopped by a public private partnership (PPP) agreement from the federal Government of Burkina Faso through its Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance.

MIGA shared that the 30 MW facility is part of 102 MW solar PV capacity (in the form of 3 projects) that its board has approved for Burkina Faso. It added that MIGA's support for these facilities is 'critical' to the realization of the facilities as considered by both the investors and the government.

In March 2021, another French company Urbasolar raised €29 million or 80% capital from Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund for its 30 MW PV facility in Burkina Faso (see €29 Million For 30 MW Solar Power Plant In Burkina Faso).