Sierra Leone Set to Welcome its First Wind Farm in Sherbro Island

Sierra Leone Set to Welcome its First Wind Farm in Sherbro Island

Sierra Leone is set to welcome its first wind farm at Sherbro Island. Towards this, the generation unit of Octopus Energy has joined hands with Idris Elba and Sherbro Alliance Partners (SAP) to realise this goal.

Sherbro Alliance Partners is an infrastructure development firm.

The significant announcement was made at COP28.

The agreement will pave the path for collection of important data to usher investment into renewable energy on Sherbro Island, across Sierra Leone and beyond. Octopus will be responsible for the construction of the project in Sierra Leone in 2024.

Under the project, up to five wind turbines and solar panels that will be equipped with batteries will produce clean electricity for local communities.

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The partnership forged between Octopus and SAP also sees potential for expansion in future. Currently, the partnering firms are on the lookout for the ideal location for the establishing the project on Sherbro Island. Additionally, as per the terms of the agreement Sherbro Alliance Partners and Octopus will begin offices in Sierra Leone.

Sherbro Island has been designated a semi-autonomous Special Economic Zone. This facilitates private sector entities and investors to invest in the development activities of the island.

As per UNOPS, only 26 per cent of Sierra Leone’s population has access to electricity and this entails predominantly urban and peri-urban areas. Sierra Leone has among the lowest rates of electricity access in the world.

Currently, Sierra Leone sees funding from the government of Japan to enable access to electricity. UNOPS is also implementing a project on behalf of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Energy to help to expand energy access to remote villages. As part of the project, UNOPS has constructed a grid distribution network for solar photovoltaic mini-grid systems in six underserved rural communities: Grima Tikonko, Lower Saama, Naiagolehun, Petewoma, Serabu and Upper Saama.