The Singrobo-Ahouaty hydropower plant project, located some 150 km north of Abidjan, Côte dIvoire, has achieved a completion rate of 78.93% as of end-March 2023
The project is the first private sector-funded climate action operation in West Africa and construction began three years ago.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is co-financing the project alongside other financiers including Africa Finance Corporation, Neo Themis, IHE Holdings, DEG - Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, and the Emerging Africa Infrastructures Fund.
Work is progressing steadily at the plant, with the last structures being installed. These include the cofferdams and the sluice gates for closing the dam. Installation of the power turbines and alternators will begin within a few weeks. Other significant works currently in progress are the construction of the spillway and the tailrace, including digging one million cubic meters into the rock and pouring 85,000 cubic meters of concrete.
“All civil engineering and hydro-mechanical works are in the final stages, and only the electro-mechanical phase remains outstanding. At the end of this stage, we will have the commissioning process, the start-up tests, and ultimately power generation,” said Christophe Blairon, CEO of IHE. According to Blairon, the major steps remaining entail diverting the right arm of the riverbank to the left arm. There are plans to fill the reservoir in early August 2023 and the plant will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2024.
The facility could supply electricity to 100,000 households and reduce Côte d'Ivoire's CO2 emissions by 109,000 tons annually. The project will create 500 jobs during the construction phase, including 150 skilled jobs and 28 jobs during the operational phase. It provides for the construction of a 4 km access road connecting the dam site to the village of Ahouaty, thus reducing travel time for the inhabitants. The plant will diversify Côte d’Ivoire’s energy mix to achieve the government's goal of generating 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
