Infrastructure development funds, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) and Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), have announced a €25-million finance facility to Ivoire Hydro Energy (IHE), which will build a 44 MW hydroelectric generation plant on the Bandama river near the village of Singrobo, in Côte d’Ivoire.

EAIF’s long-term financing package enables IHE to achieve financial close for the project, accelerating the design, construction and operation of the power plant and associated infrastructure and boosting rural access to clean energy.

The new plant will be an essential strategic economic asset for Côte d’Ivoire, where electrification rates range from 88% in urban areas to as low as 31% in rural parts of the country.

The project site is located on the Bandama river, 23 km downstream of the existing Taabo dam and upstream of the confluence of the Nzi river. It is 3.5 km from the Singrobo village in the province of Taabo and 148 km by road from Côte d’Ivoire’s capital city, Abidjan.

By displacing expensive peak-time diesel generating plants and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 124 000 t/y, the IHE plant is also integral to the government’s efforts to achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals on climate action (SDG 13) and on affordable and clean energy.

The construction of the plant, as well as 3 km of access roads and a 4 km 90 kV transmission line and substation to connect the hydropower plant to the existing Taabo-Agboville transmission line, will result in over 500 jobs.

EAIF fund manager Ninety One investment director Paromita Chatterjee says the new facility at Singrobo will be Cote d’Ivoire’s first hydroelectric development by an independent power producer.

“We are excited that it delivers on three of PIDG’s strategic objectives – mobilising private capital, enabling economic development and contributing to increasing Africa’s stock of renewable energy infrastructure,” she adds.

The Singrobo plant catalyses the Ivorian government’s strategic plan for the development of the electricity sector, which aims to increase the total installed capacity to 4.2 GW (from a current 2.2 GW) by 2030 mainly through public-private partnerships.

A long-term power purchase agreement will see all of the energy produced by the Singrobo plant sold to Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité – the operator of Côte d’Ivoire’s national grid.

In addition to closing the rural energy access gap and strengthening economic productivity, the plant’s flexible operating model enhances grid resilience, meaning it may be called in to meet baseload and peak demand.

The African Development Bank acted as the mandated lead arranger of the debt finance and will be a senior lender in its own right. Other lenders are the German international development agency, DEG and the Africa Finance Corporation.

Further, 25% of the project cost is funded by equity from the project’s shareholders, IHE Holding, the Africa Finance Corporation and DIPFA, a Denham Capital-owned international investment platform for power projects.