West Africa’s First Big Wind Farm, Built in Senegal
Senegal revealed that it has began the process of importing turbines for a large-scale wind farm.
This large-scale wind farm, could be West Africa’s first big wind farm to supply clean energy to the country.
The wind farm is based in Taiba Ndiaye, some 100 km from the capital Dakar in Senegal.
The aim of Senegal is to be the leader in renewable energy in Africa, as it is targeting 30 percent clean energy in the years to come.
This wind project alone should provide half of the clean energy, with a smaller solar project expected to produce 30 megawatts already underway.
According to energy experts in Senegal, the wind farm which will cost $342 million will avoid 300,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Financiers for this project includes, Lekela, a leading power generation company in Africa is providing half of the money for the project, U.S.-based Overseas Private Investment Corp and Danish export credit company EKF.
The project when completed will supply nearly a sixth of the country’s power. It’s capacity could reach 158.7 megawatts (MW) by 2020, according to some energy experts.
Most African countries have began rolling out some renewable energy projects hoping to solve their power generation challenges.
But this still remain a serious challenge for some countries due to constraints of finances.