Japanese company Toyota Tsusho has signed a public-private partnership (PPP) with the new Société béninoise de production d'électricité (SBPE) to develop the second phase of the Illoulofin photovoltaic solar power plant in the council of of Pobè in south-east Benin.
Toyota Tsusho is continuing its expansion in sub-Saharan Africa. The Tokyo, Japan-based company has just signed an agreement with Société béninoise de production d’électricité (SBPE) to develop the second phase of the Illoulofin photovoltaic solar power plant in the council of Pobè in south-east Benin.
The first phase of the project was completed in July 2022 with the commissioning of a power plant equipped with 47,212 solar modules, 113 inverters, six 3,515 kVA transformer substations, computer-assisted automatic control of the power plant and anti-intrusion surveillance and security systems. This first 25 MWp phase required an investment of 39.7 billion CFA francs (60.5 million euros) financed by the State of Benin with the support of the European Union (EU) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
RMT’s participation
SBPE is therefore turning to a public-private partnership (PPP) for the second phase. “The construction of this large-scale solar power plant will be presented as a Japanese PPP project that provides a stable source of low-cost electricity,” says Toyota Tsusho. The company, headed by Ichiro Kashitani, will be working with RMT, a German EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) company, a subsidiary of the French group Eiffage, which built the first phase of the Illoulofin solar power plant.
Read also- BENIN: the country’s first solar power plant (25 MWp) goes into service at Illoulofin
The second phase, with a capacity of 25 MW, is due to come on stream in 2024. This is “the first large-scale renewable energy plant construction project in West Africa by a Japanese company”, says Toyota Tsusho. But the company is also well established in other countries on the continent, notably in Egypt, where it has joined forces with French energy company Engie and Egyptian flagship Orascom Construction to install a 500 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb, on the Gulf of Suez.
South of the Sahara, Toyota Tsusho is currently building the Menengai geothermal power station (35 MW) in the Rift Valley, western Kenya, on behalf of British independent power producer (IPP) Globeleq. The company is also investing in seawater desalination, with a contract won in Senegal to build the Mamelles plant, as part of a consortium with India’s VA Tech Wabag and France’s Eiffage Génie Civil.
Jean Marie Takouleu
