Gabon: Eranove to build new hydro

France’s Eranove is to design, finance, build and operate two hydropower plants totalling nearly 90MW under 30-year concessions signed with state investment fund Fonds Gabonais d’Investissements Stratégiques (FGIS). Under the agreements signed on 21 October but announced in November, the West African-focused power and water utility is to develop the Ngoulmendjim storage plant with an installed capacity of 73MW and estimated average output of 500GWh/yr on the Komo River, about 125km east of Libreville, and the 15MW Dibwangui facility on the Louetsi River in the south-eastern Ngounié region. The smaller plant is expected to produce around 90GWh/yr.