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Minister of energy Dona Jean-Claude Houssou on 19 November launched the construction of a 25MW solar PV plant in Illoulofin, in Pobè municipality, known as the Defissol project. The plant will be built on a 96ha site owned by Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE), which is funding the CFA12.7bn ($23m) project along with the European Union and the French Development Agency.

The United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has awarded a $47m contract to General Electric Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions subsidiary for the installation of four new substations and extension of seven existing substations in Benin. The contract covers key high- voltage substations with the intention of strengthening the country’s transmission backbone. Maria-Gléta, Bercingou, Djougou, Bohicon, Natitingou, Parakou and Vedoko are the substations to be upgraded.

Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique is seeking expressions of interest by 30 April from consultants for a technical audit of the 120MW dual fuel plant at Maria-Gléta.

The Ministry of Mines has confirmed to African Energy that it still plans a licensing round this year, despite the global market conditions. “The licensing round is still planned and will be launched soon,” a ministry spokesperson said. The spokesperson said Compagnie Béninoise des Hydrocarbures (CBH) no longer held the licence for offshore Block 4, which expired late last year.

Parliament voted on 4 February to adopt a new electricity law opening up the energy sector to private operators and ending the monopoly of Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE) on the production, transport, distribution and sale of electricity. The new law replaces law 2006-16 of 26 March 2007, which previously governed power sector activities in Benin and provided for private sector participation only in generation.

A cabinet meeting on 22 January approved a proposal to recruit technical and legal advisers to oversee a tender process for a build-own-operate-transfer contract for a second 120MW power plant at the Maria Gléta site near Cotonou. “This decision aims to reinforce the energy supply of our country in order to guarantee, in the long term, self-sufficiency and a supply of reliable, competitive and high-quality electricity to the population as well as to industry,” a cabinet statement said.

The African Development Bank board approved a loan of €61.77m ($70m) to the government of Benin on 26 September to finance a rural electrification project targeting 309 communities. The three-year project aims to benefit 1m people and increase the rate of access to electricity in rural areas from 8.11% in 2018 to 13.78% in 2022.

A cabinet meeting on 11 September approved the appointment of Canada’s Manitoba Hydro International as management contractor and a consortium of Société Française de Réalisation d’Etudes et de Conseil (Sofreco) and AAA-KPMG Togo as contract auditor for Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE). The companies, which were selected following a tender process, will support reforms to the utility as part of the US Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $403m Millennium Challenge Account-Benin II 2017-2022.

President Mahamadou Issoufou formally launched the Niger-Benin export pipeline project on 17 September at a ceremony at Koulélé, in the Agadem region. The launch of the surface works followed the signing on 15 September of a transportation convention between the government and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The transportation convention sets out the contractual terms between CNPC and the Republic of Niger under which the pipeline will be built and operated.

The 127MW Maria Gléta power plant near Cotonou was formally inaugurated on 30 August by energy minister Dona Jean-Claude Houssou. The plant comprises seven MAN 18V51/60DF gensets, which will mainly run on natural gas. The plant was built by a consortium including MAN Energy Solutions and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor. It is planned to be expanded to a total capacity of 400MW in a future phase.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a construction and operation agreement with the government of Benin on 5 August for a crude oil pipeline from Agadem in Niger to Sèmè port in Benin. “The more than 1,900km pipeline, including 687km in Benin, is the largest cross-border crude pipeline invested by CNPC in Africa,” the company said.CNPC built a refinery at Zinder in 2011 to process crude from its Agadem fields but has been seeking to develop an export route so it can increase production.

Total has signed a gas supply agreement and host government agreement with Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique for a FSRU project in Benin, which will see the French major supply up to 500,000 t/yr of LNG from its portfolio for 15 years from 2021. The gas will be used to supply existing and planned power plants around Maria Gléta.The import volume is particularly small for a FSRU project, which is understood to have given Total an advantage over other bidders as demand in Benin is relatively low.

The Ministry of Energy is inviting prequalification bids for four solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed by independent power producers as part of the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)-backed power sector development compact. The five-year $403m compact – funded with $375m from the MCC and $28m from the Benin government – has been active since 22 June 2017 and is the largest of several programmes backed by development finance institutions which are moving forward in the country.

A cabinet meeting on 13 June approved the construction of four solar photovoltaic plants with a total capacity of 50MW. The projects form part of the Benin Power Compact, funded by the Millennium Challenge Account Benin II. The projects will be developed at Bohicon (15MW), Parakou (15MW), Djougou (10MW) and Natitingou (10MW).

Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique is seeking bids from experienced gas suppliers to supply gas via the West African Gas Pipeline for the 120MW Maria Gléta 2 dual-fuel power plant, which was formally inaugurated in March. The tender is funded by the Agence Française de Développement.