The interconnection of West Africa’s power grids has entered a new phase. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to finance OMVG’s energy project, the missing link in the region’s power interconnection and one of the priorities of the West African Electricity Exchange System. For this purpose the EIB is granting a global loan of €85 million (CFAF 55.7 billion) to Senegal and Guinea (€20 million and €65 million respectively).
This is the first operation of this kind with OMVG (the Organisation for the Exploitation of the Gambia River) and will concern in particular the power interconnection between Senegal and Guinea.
The finance contract was signed on 23 November 2015 at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance in Dakar in the presence of His Excellency Amadou BA, Minister of the Economy and Finance, His Excellency Doctor Mamadou Beau KEITA, Guinea’s Ambassador to Senegal, EIB Vice-President Ambroise FAYOLLE, and Justino VIEIRA, Executive Secretary of OMVG.
This is a large-scale coastal line project: a 925 km high voltage (225 kV) transmission network will interconnect the power grids of the four member countries of OMVG: Senegal, Guinea, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Eleven high and medium voltage transformer substations are planned along the network, with a loop transmission capacity of 800 MW, designed to transport electricity generated by the Kaleta power plant in Guinea initially, and by new plants in the future, while enabling interconnection with the power grids of Transco CLCG (Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea) and the Organisation for the Exploitation of the Senegal River (OMVS).
This EIB financing operation has a twofold objective: to improve the reliability and security of the region’s electricity supply and to enhance the network’s energy efficiency by transmitting clean and economical energy and reducing the use of costly fossil fuels. Special attention will be paid to the project’s environmental aspects.
“This is a key financing operation for West Africa and highly symbolic on the eve of the COP 21” said Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle at the signing ceremony. “This power interconnection project is vital for the economic and social development of the countries concerned. Our goal with this loan is to support access to clean, secure and competitive energy. Thanks to this regional cooperation, the project’s sustainable development impact and benefits for the people of West Africa will be substantial.”
As a key partner of Senegal since 1966, the EIB has pumped €288 million (around CFAF 190 billion) into the country’s economic and social development, funding concrete projects in the water, sanitation, energy and transport sectors and supporting SMEs and microfinance.
In Guinea, the EIB recently supported the energy sector with a €60 million loan signed in December 2014 in favour of projects designed to rehabilitate hydropower plants and strengthen distribution networks.