In Burkina Faso, the ministry of Power announced that the Zagtouli photovoltaic power plant is 90% complete and that it will start operating “very soon”, Xinhua reports.

Situated in Zagtouli, in the suburb of Ouagadougou, the plant will comprise 129,600 panels of 260W, generating a total of 33.7MW to meet 10% of the current demand of the country’s distribution network. It will also be one of the largest solar plants in sub-Saharan Africa.

For a cost of FCFA46 billion or $78 million, the project’s main investors are the European Investment Bank, Agence française de développement and the European Union.

Burkina Faso’s average power demand is 220MW while the nation currently produces only 177MW. The country meets this deficit with imports despite its huge potential for solar.

Olivier de Souza