Launched in a vast plan of construction of solar power stations, Burkina Faso confirms its choice in renewable energy, engine of development in this very poor country.

Burkina Faso has just inaugurated a factory for the production and assembly of solar panels. According to the government, Faso Energy is the first such plant in West Africa. The investment amounts to nearly five million euros. With a daily production of 200 panels, it will allow the installation of 30 megawatts of power annually. The company, which employs around a hundred people, ensures that it masters technology that meets European standards.

Faso Energy is in a way the keystone of the ambitious program for the development of solar electricity in Burkina Faso. This involves building sixteen solar power plants throughout the country for a total potential of 250 megawatts. Also, as long as you install solar panels, you might as well produce them in part yourself.

An ambitious project

Large-scale solar power in Burkina Faso appeared in 2017 with the Zagtouli power plant, 20 km southwest of Ouagadougou. No less than 130,000 panels have been installed on a 55-hectare site. The plant can produce 33 megawatts, free and clean energy.

The Yeleen project aims to build four new power plants. The largest, to the northwest of the capital, will produce 40 megawatts over 60 hectares, and will be connected to the network thanks to a power line bypassing the north of the city for more than 30 km. Three other so-called "regional" plants, of lower power, will be built in the towns of Diapaga, Dori and Gaoua (north, east and south of the country).

The French Development Agency (AFD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are assisting the National Electricity Company of Burkina (Sonabel) in the project. The investment amounts to more than 150 million euros, half provided in the form of loans by the AFD, the ADB at 34%, and the European Union.

Inexhaustible wealth

The stakes for Burkina Faso are considerable. Solar power represents a real asset for the country which is currently highly dependent on its neighbors for the supply of electricity. Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire provide up to 30% of its electricity needs. The rest is provided by expensive thermal power plants running on fuel. However, solar power, according to its promoters, allows the price of a kilowatt to be divided by three.

Thanks to less cumbersome infrastructures, solar power will also make it possible to supply populations that are still excluded from electrification. Only one in five Burkinabè has electricity. Where building a thermal power plant would not be profitable due to low population, solar is adaptable. According to the Minister of Energy, Bachir Ismaël Ouedraogo, thanks to the Yeleen program, 110,000 more inhabitants will have access to electricity.

Country ranked among the poorest in the world, Burkina Faso has an inexhaustible and inalienable wealth with the sun. From now on, the country intends to take advantage of it.