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The European Investment Bank has granted €38.5m ($47m) for a renewable energy project and to improve flood management in Ouagadougou, as part of its initiative to support Burkina Faso’s fight against climate change.

The G5 Sahel countries have received new support for solar generation in the Desert to Power scheme promoted by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The AfDB’s stated ambition is for the G5 Sahel countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger – to harness their potential to create “the world’s largest solar zone”. The AfDB aims to increase on- and off-grid solar generation capacity by 10GW, to transform the livelihoods of some 250m people across the 11-state Sahel region.

The West African Power Pool North Core Project Management Unit invites sealed bids from engineering, procurement and construction contractors by 21 February to carry out turnkey construction work for a high-voltage transmission line.

With demand falling due to Covid-19 and an election scheduled for 22 November, IPPs in Burkina Faso have been working hard to ensure their projects are at the front of the queue. Solar PV has been a major beneficiary, with a spate of groundbreaking ceremonies in the run up to polling day, writes Dan Marks.

Energy minister Bachir Ismaël Ouedraogo launched construction on 10 September for a 10MW solar PV plant in Kaya, Centre-Nord region.

Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina Faso (Sonabel) on 16 September launched three tenders for the construction of transmission lines. Two tenders relate to the 90kV Koudougou-Zagtouli line, both with submission deadlines of 12 November and site visits on 8 October. The West African Development Bank is funding the contracts.

Société Nationale d'Électricité du Burkina Faso (Sonabel) on 16 September launched three tenders for the construction of transmission lines. Two tenders relate to the 90kV Koudougou-Zagtouli line, both with submission deadlines of 12 November and site visits on 8 October. The West African Development Bank is funding the contracts.

The Netherlands’ FMO has provided a €200,000 ($236,000) repayable grant to the FasoBiogaz biogas plant in Ouagadougou from the Access to Energy Fund. FMO’s funding will add to €1.5m from Fasobiogaz shareholders and a grant from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) to complete two biodigesters.

Sonabel has issued a tender for the turnkey construction of three solar PV plants, with financing from the African Development Bank, as part of the country’s Yeleen rural electrification project. The tender is divided into three lots.

The US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $450m compact agreement on 13 August focusing on the power sector. In addition to the $450m pledged by MCC for this second compact with Burkina Faso, the Burkinabè government has pledged to invest $50m in the compact’s projects. The compact aims to benefit 8m people through strengthening regulations and institutions, improving energy infrastructure, increasing generation capacity, and source diversification.This will include improved access to electricity for the two largest cities, Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.

Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (Sonabel) has contracted MAN Energy Solutions to supply three diesel gensets for the expansion of the Kossodo thermal power plant in Ouagadougou. The Germany-based engineering group announced on 18 June that it would supply three MAN 18V51/60TS engines to raise the capacity of the baseload plant in Kossodo, a suburb of the capital, by 55MW to 110MW, and in the process increase national generation capacity by almost 20%. Local company Tecmon BF is acting as the main contractor.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has invited funding requests by 17 April for renewable energy projects in Burkina Faso. Through the Fonds des Energies Renouvelables pour la Résilience du Burkina Faso programme, the UNCDF, with financial support from the government of Luxembourg, will offer technical and/or financial assistance to support projects that can strengthen and accelerate the growth of income-generating activities through the adoption of renewable energy (solar PV and biomass).

French developer Urbasolar Group launched construction of a 30MWp solar PV plant at Pâ in the Boucle du Mouhoun region in a ceremony on 1 February. The plant is being developed as a public-private partnership between the government, Urbasolar, and local partner PPS. The plant will cover an area of 35 hectares and is expected to produce 51.7GWh/yr, supplying the towns of Pâ, Wona, Houndé, Yaramoko and Boromo. Construction is expected to take ten months.

The Burkinabè Rural Electrification Agency invites prequalification applications by 26 February for the design, financing, supply, construction, operation and maintenance of a series of decentralised solar PV systems across Burkina Faso. The contract will entail the installation of 100 mini-solar PV systems equipped with energy storage systems and 100,000 domestic solar systems with the aim of meeting the energy supply needs of 150,000 households in rural zones under a public-private partnership.

The Samendeni multipurpose dam on the Mouhoun River was inaugurated at the end of November in a ceremony attended by President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. The dam, which is the third largest in Burkina Faso after the Kompienga and Bagré dams, was developed over a decade at a cost of CFA62bn ($104m), to supply water for irrigation, promote fishing activities and generate electricity from an associated 2.6MW hydropower plant.