The PRERA project in Benin aims the access to electricity for 50,000 new subscribers to the national electricity operator, SBEE - about 800,000 beneficiaries who will directly benefit from electricity for their domestic, social (health, education, etc.) and economic needs, in Calavi, near Cotonou, and in 80 villages in the Atlantic department.

In addition to its role as prime contractor for the supervision of works (posts and HT lines, distribution works, etc.), IED is in charge of the social intermediation of the project, or how to connect as much households, infrastructures and economic actors as possible to electricity.

After sending more than 30,000 customers between 2018 and mid-2020, IED launched its innovative mobile money connection collection solution last August, in partnership with the two Benin mobile operators MTN and MOOV. After a one-month test phasis, from a pilot zone of about 1,000 future subscribers, more than 10 million CFA francs (about 15,000 euros) were collected, or a large hundred people ready to have a meter installed (prepayment) and to be connected. This is promising, and it gives the green light to expand the mobile money solution to all the beneficiaries of the project!

Building on the company’s long history of electrification and planning work in Benin, IED was selected by the Ministry of Energy to complete the country’s National Electrification Strategy (2020-2035). The Government of Benin has committed to achieving 100% access to household electricity services by 2035.  However, despite significant developments in the power sector in recent years, electrification progress has lagged behind the country’s ambitions. The most recent estimates suggest that 58 % of households have direct access to electricity services in urban areas, with this share falling to just 8% in rural areas.

The National Electrification Strategy therefore aims to unlock the electrification potential of Benin by putting into place the conditions that allow the country’s electrification stakeholders to accelerate connections both on- and off-grid. The project mobilises a multi-disciplinary team of Beninese and international planners, engineers, and legal and financial experts who will work closely with local stakeholders to identify and propose solutions to the most critical financial, regulatory, institutional and technical obstacles to electrification in Benin.

The six-month project will be coordinated by the General Directorate of Energy Resources at the Ministry of Energy.  The project was launched on August 28^th, 2020 via video-conference with representatives from all of the major electricity sector stakeholders, and will proceed in three phases: situational analysis, strategy development, and implementation planning. The final results of the study are expected to be delivered in a series of workshops and training sessions in the first quarter of 2021.

The ceremony to commission the power grids of 24 ZIRO communities composed in lot 1 and 2 of the electrical grid component of the ERD ZIGO project in Burkina Faso took place on Thursday 03 September 2020 in Cassou, province of ZIRO.

The commissioning ceremony was coupled with the symbolic installation of the first solar panels of the Cassou power plant as part of the same project.

The ceremony was presided by the Minister of Energy, Mr. Bashir Ishmael OUEDRAOGO, with the presence of the Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the Republic. Were also present the first leaders of the various departments responsible for the implementation of the electrification programme of the Burkinabe government : the General Director of SONABEL (National Electricity Society of Burkina Faso), his counterparts from the ABER (Burkinabe Rural Administration Agency, ex Fonds of Development of Electrification -FDE), and ANEREE (National Agency for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency), and the president of the ABER Administration Board

The first managers of the companies in charge of the works were also present: the General Administrator of PPI (lot 1 networks and lot 2 solar power plant: Matiacoali), its counterpart of SIMEEEL (Lots 2 and 4 networks), theGeneral Director of BTSI (Lot 3 networks), the General Director of Sahel Energy Solar, grouping with SAGEMCOM (lot 1 solar power plant: Cassou).

As a reminder, the ZIGO project financed by the European Union and the ABER (Burkinabe Rural Electricity Agency) consists of the electrification of 45 localities, 14 of which are in the province of Gourma (East region) and 31 in that of Ziro (Central West region); by the constructionof m

edium voltage and low voltage distribution networks  aimed at  connecting 31,000 inhabitants, more than 5,000 households. The availability of energy will be supported by the construction of two solar injection plants, the first panels of which have just been installed in Cassou and one in Matiakoali (work in progress), allowing to develop and energize the local economy.

National television report, broadcast on the 13H newspaper of 04/09/2020 of the national television: https://youtu.be/7DjXPRQsX6I

Videos of the speeches of the Mayor of Cassou, the Ambassador of the European UnionE in Burkina Faso andtheDirectorGeneralof the ABER

The ECLERIVOIRE project, funded by the European Union, is part of the 11th EDF of the ENERGOS II programme, which includes a component "Decentralized rural electrification by renewable energy" and an "Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings" component. The company IED (Energy Innovation and Development) is driving the mastery of the project and CI-ENERGIES the mastery of the project works.

The objective of the "Decentralized Rural Electrification by renewable energy" component is to provide off-grid electrification solutions from renewable energy to rural communities. It plans to build autonomous networks powered by hybrid solar power plants (photovoltaics/generators with energy storage batteries) and the installation of individual photovoltaic systems.

Since the project was launched in February 2020, a feasibility study has been directed in Côte d'Ivoire in 22 rural communities in the departments of Biankouma, Korhogo, Koro, Minignan, Odienné, Ouaninou, Tiassalé and Touba, which are not currently connected to the network.

At the end of this study, 10 villages and their camps were selected for the work, a total of 15 sites with PV power plants and 23 camps electrified by solar kits. The picketing of the medium voltage and low voltage networks was completed at the end of August 2020 by IED and SAGEMCOM, despite the Covid crisis and chaotic local roads, making it sometimes quite hectic to transport materials to their destinations.