The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is providing nearly half the funding necessary for a scheme to deploy solar mini-grids across 100 villages in Burkina Faso.
The €24.3 million funding will contribute to the €53.1 million programme, which aims to reduce the West African country's reliance on fossil fuels and alleviate what are some of the highest power tariffs in the region, is also focused on improving power access, given just 3% of Burkina Faso's rural areas are electrified.
The Yeleen Rural Electrification Project welcomes private sector participation and GCF's funding will provide capital grants to selected bidders for each successful electricity connection, support the construction of renewable energy infrastructure and back local financial institutions to provide loans.
“The Yeleen Project has a strong potential for scalability and replicability within Burkina Faso and across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Pierre Telep, senior renewable energy specialist at GCF. “It represents a useful framework to encourage private sector-led rural electrification projects to increase electricity access and accelerate green energy investments.”
In July AfDB announced it was providing €18 million in funding for Burkina Faso's energy sector reform. French company Cegelec built a 33MW solar PV project in the country last year.