More news on the Scaling Solar programme in Côte d’Ivoire. Almost two years after the International Finance Corporation (IFC) engaged with the Ivorian authorities, the construction of two solar power plants is becoming clearer. The Ivorian Ministry of Mines, Oil and Energy, through Côte d’Ivoire Energies (CI-Energies) is launching the pre-qualification for two 60 MWp solar photovoltaic power plants.
One solar park will be built in the locality of Laboa in the north-east of Ivory Coast. The other plant will be installed near Touba, a town located between Odienné in the north, Séguéla in the east and Man in the south, in the Bafing region, 680 km northwest of Abidjan. According to the Ivorian government, the first stage of the bidding process consists of a pre-qualification of potential bidders with the experience, expertise and financial resources required to implement a large-scale independent solar power production project within a tight timeframe.
A 25-year concession contract
In the second stage of the process, pre-qualified bidders will be invited to submit their bids in accordance with the tender document. The successful Independent Power Producer(s) (IPP) will design, finance, build, install, commission and operate the two solar PV plants over a 25-year period. The electricity produced will be fed into the national electricity grid of Ivory Coast under a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed with the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’électricité (CIE).
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Ivory Coast is starting to implement its solar project at the same time as Niger is joining the Scaling Solar programme of the IFC, the World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm. As part of this initiative, Senegal now has two 60 MWp solar power plants in Kahone and Kaél.
In Ivory Coast, interested IPPs can obtain the pre-qualification document by sending an email request to the attention of the government at scaling.solar@cinergies.ci; with a copy to the attention of IFC Advisory at rci_solar@ifc.org.
Jean Marie Takouleu