- The President of Senegal, H.E Macky Sall, inaugurated a 120MW solar PV plant Malicounda on the weekend, which was co-developed by Africa50, Melec PowerGen (MPG), and the national utility company Senelec.
The Malicounda power plant will increase Senegal’s generation capacity by 8% and will substantially reduce generation costs. It is designed to convert to the use of natural gas as soon it comes on stream from domestic fields which are currently under development, which will shift Senegal’s energy mix to cleaner fuel.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, H.E President Macky Sall said, “The Malicounda Power Plant is a historic project accomplished under a Public-Private Partnership that will reduce electricity costs for the people of Senegal. It supports our goal to ensure universal access to electricity for our people and a balanced energy mix through gas-to power feature of this project. I want to convey a special thank you to Africa50 for trusting Senegal with this important project”.
The plant, which started operations in August 2022, was financed through equity and senior debt provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement (BOAD) as senior lenders following a prior EUR 75 million bridge financing arranged by Orabank Sénégal.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
