(Togo First) - Togo hopes to achieve 100% electricity coverage by 2030, against 59% now. By then, the share of renewables in the energy mix should be 50%, according to the country’s ambitions. 

To this end, Lomé  has carried out several projects such as building energy infrastructures, aimed at first reducing shortages, and consolidating achievements toward setting up an environment that is fit for industrialization  

From the 2018 roundtable, to draw the national electrification strategy, to the launch of the Blitta photovoltaic power plant, Togo strives, every year, to achieve universal access to electricity.

In this article, we quickly review some energy projects and infrastructures recently developed in Togo

Contour Global

To put an end to the permanent load shedding in the country, the authorities inaugurated in October 2010, Contour Global’s thermal power plant. This is a tri-fuel power plant that runs on HFO fuel, diesel, and natural gas. The plant has an installed capacity of 100 MW and has been getting its natural gas supplies through the Société de Gazoduc Ouest Africain pipeline since 2019. 

Kekeli Efficient Power Plant

In April 2021, the Togolese authorities inaugurated the Kekeli Efficient Power plant to boost the country's installed capacity. With an expandable production capacity of 65 MW, the project required an investment of CFA85 billion, provided by Eranove, which owns 75% of the facility. The government holds the remaining stake, 25%, via Kifema Capital, an investment vehicle of Togo Invest, a public holding whose shareholders include the national social security fund (CNSS), INAM, and the CCIT. 

Kékéli should eventually produce 532 GWh annually to supply more than 250,000 Togolese households or more than 1.5 million people. This power plant increases Togo's electricity production capacity by 50%.

Blitta Solar Plant

The Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed solar power plant or Blitta’s solar plant (located in the central region, 262 km from Lomé) was built by AMEA Togo Solar, a subsidiary of AMEA Power, and inaugurated in June 2021. 

With an initial capacity of 30 MWp, this PV plant has over 5,000 solar panels and is expected to generate approximately 90,255 MWh per year. Its output should cover around 158,333 Togolese households.

AMEA power, a subsidiary of Al Nowais Investissement (ANI) based in the United Arab Emirates, was awarded the right to operate the plant for a period of 25 years with the specification to contribute to the saving of one million tons of CO2 emissions.

In the project’s second phase, the installed capacity will be extended by 20 MW, using financing of $25 million (CFA15 billion) from Abu Dhabi Exports (ADEX) which concluded on November 23, 2022, an agreement with Togo.

Two plants in the pipeline

Togo plans to build two more solar plants in the coming years, one in Salimde, (In the Tchaoudjo prefecture) and the other in Awandjelo (Kozah).

Last June, the BOAD approved a CFA25 billion financing for the construction of the Awandjelo plant. The latter should generate an additional 42 MWp, and bring renewables’ share in Togo’s energy mix to 40. 

Togo, let’s recall, aims to have renewable energy make up 50% of its energy mix by 2030.

Off-grid networks 

In Togo, rural electricity projects are steered by the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Agency. 

Several companies, including BBOXX, EDF, and Sun King-Soleva, are actively working to promote universal access to electricity by developing innovative technologies and providing solar energy services to communities not connected to the grid.

In 2019, Togo launched the Cizo project in partnership with BBOXX, a renewable energy company that provides affordable solar energy systems to off-grid communities in Africa and Asia. Soleva joined the initiative a few years later before it was acquired, in 2022, by Sun King, a renewable energy developer. The project’s goal is to democratize access to electricity by providing affordable individual solar kits to more than 2 million Togolese (or about 300,000 households). 

In 2021, the Cizo was complemented by the Tinga Fund, a mechanism to facilitate access to electricity through the provision of repayable government grants to rural people.  In its first phase, the project should reach 33,000 households.