The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has on the 16th of September 2015 approved on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Energy Week, a US $965,000 grant to back the preparation of turnkey run-of-river hydropower plant with a valued electric capacity of 20 MW at Saltinho, Guinea-Bissau.

The hydropower plant is to be interconnected by a transmission line to Bissau and neighboring countries inside the framework of the regional energy programme by the Organization for the Development of the Gambia River also known as OMVG in French, co-financed by AfDB. This SEFA support falls under a wider partnership with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), for renewable energy investments promotion in Guinea-Bissau, including the development of the hydropower project at Saltinho. Sweetcrude reports

“SEFA grant support aims at attracting strong private partners/investors and enable the project to reach bankability and have a high demonstration effect in Guinea-Bissau and beyond as the first Independent Power Producer or Public-Private Partnership Project, the first large renewable energy project, and the first project finance deal in a transition country with Bank participation.” Joao Duarte Cunha, SEFA Coordinator, said subsequently after the approval.

On completion, the regional project will increase the total installed capacity in the country, currently capped at 26 MW, lead to energy diversification and significantly decrease the average cost of production. Additionally, it will contribute to reducing the overdependence on expensive, imported diesel and heavy fuel oil, and improve the carbon footprint of the country as well as through the provision of clean and renewable energy, contribute to one of the SE4All objectives of doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030.

The SEFA grant will finance the technical assistance that shall structure the project in order to attract private investors and also to contribute to its bankability. In particular, the grant will encompass a technical feasibility study together with an institutional and financial scheme for an Independent Power Producer or Public-Private Partnership arrangement.