A 50MW solar power plant is set to be developed in Tiakadougou-Dialakoro, Mali. This is after Amea Power Group was awarded the contract for construction and operation of the plant. Tiakadougou-Dialakoro is a small village of 7,000 inhabitants a short distance from Bamako.
According to the signed agreement, Amea will build the plant and operate it for 25 years. The overall cost for the project is US $75m. Upon completion, the plant will supply the people in Koulikoro region with electricity. The first results are expected within a year. The government also projects that the power plant will improve the rate of access to electricity which currently stands at 41%.
Energy crisis in Mali
Mali faces severe energy access shortage, despite great improvements in recent years which has seen access to electricity double in the last decade. However, this still leaves only 25.6% of the country connected. In rural areas this percentage dropped down to only 11.9%, while just over half of the population (50.4%) is connected in urban areas.
Electricity production in Mali is dominated by hydraulic (55%) and diesel (45%) sources. Although Mali is endowed with plentiful solar and hydro potential, it currently only has about 310MW of installed capacity to serve a population of around 18 million people. These efforts have been hampered by insecurity in the north of the country, which has led to the discontinuation of several projects.
The country currently imports 50MW from Cote d’Ivoire and has approximately 90MW of off-grid production. One of the objectives of the government is for renewable energies to reach 20% penetration in the country’s energy mix by 2025.
