Page 8 - AfrElec Week 49 2021
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AfDB funds Kamanyola-
Bujumbura power line in Burundi
BURUNDI CONSTRUCTION engineering firm KEC This specific contract for the Burundi com-
International is to build the Kamanyola-Bujum- ponent was signed at the beginning of Decem-
bura energy transmission line and Bujumbura ber between the director-general of the Burundi
substation in Burundi, the African Development water and electricity production and distribu-
Bank (AfDB) said. tion authority REGIDESO, Jean Albert Manin-
It should take about 18 months to construct gomba, and KEC International representative
an 80-km, 220-kV power transmission line Sarvesh Kumar Gupta.
to connect Kamanyola and Bujumbura and a The planned transmission line will evacuate
220/110/30-kV substation in the economic cap- the production of the future regional hydro-
ital of Burundi. electric plant (HPP) of Ruzizi III. The HPP
The AfDB will provide €30.7mn in fund- is planned for the Ruzizi river on the border
ing, while €15mn will come from the European between the DRC and Rwanda. It should pro-
Union. vide around 400 GWh of electricity per year to
The build is part of the Multinational Project Burundi, potentially affecting 430,000 people.
for the Interconnection of the Electric Grids of The SEforAll Sustainable Energy Fund
the Nile Equatorial Lakes Countries. pointed out Burundi’s access to electricity (7%)
The multinational project is meant to is one of the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa. The
improve living conditions and strengthen the current energy situation is characterised by
economic and social development framework insufficient power supply to meet demand, pre-
of the region. It will also help Burundi through venting economic takeoff. The country, though,
greater access to electricity at an affordable has substantial potential to develop both hydro-
cost thanks to the increase in the cross-border power and renewable energy sources.
exchange of electrical energy.
Sendou coal-fired power project
again feeding Senegal grid
BURUNDI THE Sendou coal-fired power plant, which has oil.
lain dormant since July 2019, has been deliver- Barak said on December 3 that the fund and
ing commercial power to the Senegal national its partners in Sendou will bring in an additional
grid for nearly a week after its successful third-party strategic partner and investor later to
recommissioning. convert the facility to a gas-fired power project.
The 125-MW Sendou project, a partnership Senelec chief executive Papa Madembe Bit-
between investor Barak Fund, which operates eye said Sendou, now the largest power plant
from South Africa, the Senegalese government operating in the country, was “a critical national
and state-owned power company Senelec, aims asset”.
to reduce the country’s reliance on expensive fuel
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 09•December•2021
