Independent power producer (IPP) Africa REN has commissioned a solar and storage project in Senegal, which it claimed as the first of its kind in West Africa.
The Walo Storage project was put into commercial operation on 14 July, Africa REN announced last week (6 August), around 12 months after construction started.
Although the firm didn’t reveal the capacity in the announcement, a spokesperson confirmed to Energy-Storage.news the previous communication that it pairs 20MW of solar PV with a 10MW/20MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
The company said it is the first PV installation coupled with a lithium-ion BESS in West Africa dedicated to frequency regulation and covering local energy needs in the event of a grid loss. The project is connected to the network of Senelec, the national electricity company and transmission system operator (TSO) of Senegal.
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The project totalled €40 million (US$46.5 million) of investment and was financed by Africa REN, Dutch development bank FM and the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), partially via its Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF).
When Energy-Storage.news covered the project’s financing in 2023, Africa REN described it as the first lithium-ion BESS dedicated to frequency regulation in West Africa, without the additional qualifier of it being the ‘first solar and storage’ BESS. Other such BESS may have been commissioned in the region since then.
Two other, slightly larger BESS projects were financed in Senegal the same year as Walo: the 30MW solar PV, 15MW/45MWh BESS Niakhar Solar Power project, from Teranga Niakhar Storage, and a 40MW/160MWh BESS co-located with the Parc Eolien Taiba N’Diaye (PETN) wind farm, from Infinity Power.
“I would like to thank our partners in Senegal, first and foremost Senelec, for their unwavering support since our first investments in 2015. The timely commissioning of Walo Storage confirms our ability to support Senegal’s energy transition with the most advanced technologies. It is also a key step in our ambition to bring €500 million of sustainable assets by 2030,” said Gilles Parmentier, President of Africa REN.
Papa Toby Gaye, CEO of Senelec, added: “The arrival of Walo Storage provides us with essential leverage to guarantee stable and reliable electricity while significantly contributing to the diversification of our energy mix.”
