By Soumaila T. Diarra, Thomson Reuters Foundation
EDM (the national energy company Energie du Mal) has begun to add solar power capacity to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, which provide around half the West African nation’s power and can be costly due to volatile prices on international markets. The other half comes from renewable energies, including hydroelectric dams.
Aminata Fofana, an advisor to Mali’s energy minister said the country is also building two large-scale solar power plants to feed into the national grid, including one in the central region of Ségou which is slated to be West Africa’s first utility-scale solar plant.
The $58-million Ségou plant is being financed mainly by the World Bank and other donors, and has planned capacity of 33 megawatts. It is expected to cover 5 percent of Mali’s electricity needs, while reducing EDM’s carbon emissions by 46,000 tonnes per year.
The plant is a partnership between Norwegian company Scatec Solar and the Malian government, and will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 60,000 households.
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About Scatec Solar
Scatec Solar is an integrated independent solar power producer, delivering affordable, rapidly deployable and sustainable source of clean energy worldwide. A long term player, Scatec Solar develops, builds, owns, operates and maintains solar power plants, and already has an installation track record of close to 600 MW.
The company is producing electricity from 404 MW of solar power plants in the Czech Republic, South Africa, Rwanda, Honduras and the United States. Construction of additional 22 MW in Jordan is under completion.
With an established global presence, the company is growing strongly with a project backlog and pipeline of more than 1.5 GW under development in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Scatec Solar is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘SSO’.