Togo breaks ground on West Africa's largest solar PV project

Togo broke ground on its 50MW Mohamed Bin Zayed Photovoltaic Solar Power Complex in Blitta this month. The project supports the country's ambitions to increase its rural electrification rate to 50% by 2022, and 100% by 2030.

Image source: AMEA Power

It was launched in the presence of the president of Togo Faure E. Gnassingbe and Hussain Al Nowais, chairman of AMEA Power, the company in charge of designing, financing, building, launching, operating and maintaining the facility.

“AMEA Power is a foreign investor who understands Africa and has demonstrated a commitment to supporting local content wherever it operates,” said NJ Ayuk, executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber and CEO of the Centurion Law Group. “As public and private sector interest for Africa grows in the Middle East, such players are most welcomed. Their work in and with Africa contributes to the development of a sustainable and prosperous future.”

The project further confirms the growing presence of AMEA Power in the continent. The UAE-based company has become a serious investor in Africa’s energy sector and represents the growing appetite of private players and investors from the Middle East to invest in Africa. At the end of 2019, Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power signed two long-term power purchase agreements for 250MW of solar PV projects in Ethiopia, while state-owned ADNOC is reportedly looking at several investments into the African upstream oil and gas sector.