- The government of Benin has announced a 50 MW Solar PV tender made up of four projects.
- The projects will be built through private-public partnerships, and that an ad hoc commission will be created for the procurement process of the IPPs.
- The four solar power plants will be located in Bohicon (15 MW) in southern Benin, and in Parakou (15 MW), Djougou (10 MW) and Natitingou (10 MW), in the northern part of the country.
The projects will be developed in the frame of the Millennium Challenge Account-Bénin II (MCA-Benin II) program. The initiative is supported by the US government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) through a US375 million compact, designed to modernize the West African country’s power sector.
The tender is structured under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) mode and will sell power to the country’s state-owned utility Société Beninoise d’Énergie Electrique (SBEE) under a 20-year PPA.
Interested IPP’s have until August 19 to pre-qualify for the tender.
Link to tender document here
Benin is a small West African country bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Only 29% of the population has access to electricity.
The country has recently establish an independent electricity regulator with the authority to regulate tariffs, pass a new law encouraging public-private partnerships, and approve a performance plan with measurable targets for the national utility, SBEE (Société Béninoise d’Energie Electrique).
Related news: Benin to Expand Digital Access to Rural Areas. Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
