The government of Senegal has unveiled a major power project that will increase the country’s power generation capacity by 8% and substantially reduce generation costs.
The project which was co-developed by Africa50, Melec PowerGen (MPG), and the national utility company Senelec, was inaugurated by The President of Senegal, H.E Macky Sall on Saturday.
The purpose of the project is to build and operate a 120MW thermal IPP power plant in the Malicounda locality, Department of Mbour about 67 km from Dakar, Senegal.
The plant will utilize heavy-fuel oil (HFO) as primary source of energy, that will be converted to natural gas as soon as it is available in the country. The plant will be connected to the grid through the existing 225kV substation adjacent to the site. The project will also contribute to the improvement of electricity access to the surrounding communities and villages through the medium voltage transmission line to be connected to the substation.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, H.E President Macky Sall said, “The Malicounda Power Plant is a historic project accomplished under a Public-Private Partnership that will reduce electricity costs for the people of Senegal. It supports our goal to ensure universal access to electricity for our people and a balanced energy mix through gas-to power feature of this project. I want to convey a special thank you to Africa50 for trusting Senegal with this important project”.
The plant, which started operations in August 2022, was financed through equity and senior debt provided by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement (BOAD) as senior lenders following a prior EUR 75 million bridge financing arranged by Orabank Sénégal.
On the occasion of the ceremony, Tshepidi Moremong, Chief Operating Officer of Africa50 said, “The Malicounda Power Plant is Africa50’s second major investment in the power sector in Senegal and we will continue working closely with the Government and private sector partners to deliver strategic high-impact infrastructure projects.”
The €154m plant was developed by MP Energy, acting on behalf of the main sponsor Melec PowerGen (MPG) following a call for tenders issued by Senelec, a power generation platform focusing on sub-Saharan Africa; Africa50, the pan-Africa infrastructure investment platform; and Senelec, the national utility company of Senegal.
