On Thursday, December 10, 2020, Benin's Energy Minister Dona Jean-Claude HOUSSOU, visited the works sites of the PRERA project:  the SBEE Network Restructuring and Extension Project in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi and 81 villages in the Atlantic department, which project IED is mastering the project management, as well as the monitoring of work and social intermediation, in order to allow access to electricity to about 800,000 beneficiaries.

This project, which started in 2017, aims to improve the availability and quality of electricity in the urban and peri-urban centres of the municipality of Abomey-Calavi and also in the rural communities of the Atlantic department.  

Mr. HOUSSOU, Minister of Energy, was thus able to assess project progression and :

• attend an HTB cable unwinding operation (Bouygues):  https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337086384222433283
• visit the site of one of the 2 GIS HTB 63kV (SDEL) technology stations in Akassato:   https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337077895165059079
• assess the work carried out regarding distribution lots allocated to the RMT Eiffage company,
• visit a  prefabricated station in GIS  HTA technology and carry out the commissioning of a transformer in the "control village" of  Glo Fanto,
• make a visit to a customer newly connected to the network.

Sarah HOLT, an expert consultant on social and economic issues for IED, presented to the Minister the social intermediation activities in the project : awareness/communication in the area of intervention, addressing and geo-referencing of the more than 30,000 potential customers, making available to eligible customers a solution to pay their connection costs to the SBEE network by mobile money, etc.

Check the videos with the following links :

• https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1336982125162213377 https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337067554481860617
  https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337067554481860617
  https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337066307779506176
• https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337063226387918859https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337074413569761281
• https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337063226387918859
  https://twitter.com/MediapartBenin/status/1337067554481860617
  

Since the beginning of December 2020, a team of IED experts has been working in Gabon.

Their mission is to study the hybridization possibilities of 5 thermal power plants supplying  mini-networks  in rural areas in order to be able to assemble the tender files and provide the technical specifications.

The IED intervention is part of the project called "Access to Basic Services in Rural and Capacity Building"  led by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Hydraulic Resources (MMERH)  and carried out in partnership with the World Bank. This project is part of the "Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan (PSGE)" drawn up in 2012 by the Government of the Republic of Gabon, which aims to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty.

Through this PSGE, the Government of Gabon wanted an ambitious programme of restructuring the entire energy system through numerous structuring projects favouring renewable energies in order to achieve an overall rural electrification rate of 80%.

The Millennium Challenge Account II has sought IED’s support to finalize the signature process of signing the concession agreements of 8 mini networks operators in Benin.

Benin has put in place a regulatory framework allowing private investment in the development of off-grid electricity. Eight mini-grid operators have signed a financing agreement with the Out-of-Network Clean Energy Facility (OCEF), and are currently achieving negotiations with the regulator and the licensing authority to sign the concession agreements.

Once the agreements are signed, IED will also support the licensing authority and the regulatory teams to monitor the work until its upcoming commissioning in 2022.

Since its creation, IED Social Fund has enabled its employees to support their commitment to social projects that are close to their hearts and in which they are personally involved. In this particularly complicated year for many sectors of activity, the financial assistance granted by the IED Social  Fund  has  further enabled us to support activities external to the company in accordance with its values of commitment to the poorest and the enhancement of fair and sustainable societal projects, in the geographical environment of our professional presences.

Key facts of year 2019 / 2020

• Ashalayam  Association, which helps street children in Calcutta, India, to get out of their extremely precarious situation, which has been supported for several years and recently focused on health issues.
• In France, in the light of the economic crisis of 2020 affecting the most vulnerable, reintegration and support of people insituations of extreme vulnerability, whether through the Enterprise of Possibles, a collective of companies in the Lyon metropolis whose aim is to maintain access to housing through the patronage of skills, or through the Lyon-based association Forum Réfugié -Cosi, which works to welcome refugees, defend the right of asylum and promote the rule of law.  
• Training of young people and support for people with disabilities: rehabilitation work of the Lyon theatre of the Compagnie du Gai Savoir,  which works to democratise schoolchildren's access to drama with an integrative approach to people with disabilities; Judo Club of the Saint  Genoise Agreement for its initiatives to integrate young athletes with autism or  trisomy ;  The Castors Workshop,  a creative parenting support association located in Orleans, and the Scout section of the Farfadets de Craponne.
• Work of school infrastructure carried out by the drômoise association "Que la Joie  Demeure", a supporter of the Montessori school method, which corroborates the desire of IED employees to encourage collaborative pedagogical practices placing respect for the environment at the centre of educational interactions and awareness of the adults of tomorrow.
• Support for the development of sustainable community farming practices and the emergence of eco-tourism that enhances Malagasy cultures,through support for the Fanamby project of the artist Rajery, "Prince of valiha",  which is in line with the values of commitment of FDI actors in the service of eco-responsible actions sources of sustainable development.

Congratulations to all these project leaders!