IFC to Assess Potential of Private Investments in Energy Storage Solutions in Burkina Faso

IFC will assess how private investment in energy storage can contribute to higher solar power production while enhancing grid stability in Burkina Faso

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Energy to assess how private investment in energy storage can contribute to higher levels of solar power production while enhancing grid stability and dispatch issues in Burkina Faso.

This assessment will lead to the definition of a storage investment roadmap based on PPP models in Burkina Faso. It will be jointly supervised by IFC, the Ministry of Energy and the grid utility Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL).

Under this agreement, IFC will assess the economic benefits of storage to integrate solar capacities to the grid and decrease the overall generation costs, review the country’s legal and regulatory frameworks and compare private and public storage project development and financing models. IFC will also provide recommendations regarding various aspects of Public-Private Partnerships in energy storage, based on a review of international best practices.

“This assessment is an important step to help successfully integrate a larger amount of solar power into the country’s energy mix, as planned by the government,” said Ronke-Amoni Ogunsulire, IFC’s Country Manager for Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Niger and Togo.

Burkina Faso’s power sector is characterised by a high reliance on expensive thermal capacities and imports. While the target is to achieve universal access to electricity by 2025, the country’s present electrification rate is approximately 20 percent. The Burkinabe government has launched an ambitious renewable energy strategy to valorise large available solar resources and decrease both electricity generation costs and exposure to oil price fluctuations.

In January, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has confirmed the allocation of approximately USD 105 million for eight renewable energy projects in developing countries in the seventh cycle of the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility. The announcement marks a record level of funding for any cycle since the facility was launched and will provide funding for projects in Burkina Faso and also in Antigua and Barbuda, Chad, Cuba, the Maldives, Nepal, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

In Burkina Faso, an ADFD loan of USD 5.5 million will contribute to the construction of a 3 MW solar PV power plant in the country.