A consortium of financial institutions last week announced they co-invested $52 million to help finance the development of a 50 MW greenfield project in Sierra Leone titled Planet Solar spearheaded by Frontier Energy and Planet One Group.
December 8, 2023 Angela Skujins
Image: aboodi vesakaran, Unsplash
United Kingdom government-owned finance institution British International Investment, Dutch development bank FMO and French finance development institution Proparco said in a press release they poured $52 million of investment into a 50 MW solar project in Sierra Leone.
Dubai-headquartered energy company Planet One Group announced in 2018 that construction had started on the project, titled Planet Solar, and the company had signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Ministry of Energy.
In 2022 California-based energy company Frontier Energy trumpeted it had become the majority owner of Planet Solar, located in four locations – Kenema, Port Loko, Makoth and Kono.
The project is expected to increase the Western African country’s installed electricity capacity by 30%, according to Proparco Deputy Head of Private Equity Africa and Middle East, Tibor Asboth. Proparco said in the press release that Planet Solar will be the first large-scale grid-connected solar Independent Power Producer (IPP) in the country.
Frontier Energy states on its website that generated power will be sold to the government-owned utility, Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA).
Sierra Leone had 9 MW of solar installed capacity at the end of last year, which is more than double its recorded capacity from 2021, the International Renewable Energy Agency said.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : PV-Magazine – https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/12/08/planet-one-group-secures-52-million-financing-for-50-mw-solar-farm-in-sierra-leone/