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Investment in bioenergy project in Sierra Leone

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is facilitating a €25mn senior private sector loan to finance the Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone (ABSL) project

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is facilitating a €25mn senior private sector loan to finance the Addax Bioenergy Sierra Leone (ABSL) project

It consists of the development of a Greenfield sugarcane plantation of approximately 10,000 hectares, the construction of an integrated bio-energy facility including the sugarcane crushing facility and ethanol distillery, and a 32- megawatt biomass co-generation power plant.


The project will generate roughly 960,000 tonnes of sugarcane per year that will be used to produce 83,000 cubic metres (83mn litres) of anhydrous ethanol for export and possibly domestic consumption; and 165gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity of which roughly 100 GWh will be delivered to the domestic market.

The Addax Bioenergy project will significantly help to enhance socioeconomic conditions of communities within the project area.


Positive social benefits include: creation of employment opportunities; rise in household incomes; stimulation of local economic growth, including opportunities for microenterprises and small businesses; generation of muchneeded electricity; reduction of carbon emissions; increased agricultural productivity and food production in the project area; enhanced access to markets and social services for the local population; and skills training.

In addition, the project will result in several positive environmental benefits. These environmental benefits include the creation of ecological corridors and buffer zones for conservation purposes, and a decline in greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 200,000 tonnes per year.

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