Senegal sets solar benchmark

16 April 2018


The World Bank says that its Scaling Solar programme has set a new low price for solar energy in Senegal.

A competitive auction for licenses to build two solar power plants in Senegal has resulted in bids that will produce electricity for under 4 eurocents (roughly 5 US cents) per kWh.

The bids mean that the two solar farms, which will have a combined capacity of 60 MW, will be among the cheapest sources of electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. Both projects will be built by a consortium of Engie and Meridam, the World Bank said.

Engie and Meridam bid 3.80 eurocents per kWh for the solar plant located in Kahone and 3.98 eurocents per kWh for the solar plant located in Touba. The auction was held by Senegal’s Electricity Sector Regulatory Commission (CRSE), supported by the World Bank.

The auction attracted 14 bids from eight bidders for the two projects. It followed the first Scaling Solar auction in Zambia, which delivered a ground-breaking 6.015 US cent tariff, the lowest tariff in Sub-Saharan Africa at the time.

Scaling Solar is now developing over 1 GW of solar power in partnership with four African countries – Zambia, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Senegal. In addition, the program is expanding to new regions with countries in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East in discussions to join Scaling Solar.

Scaling Solar is designed to remove obstacles to developing arge-scale solar power in developing countries.



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