International financial institution, the World Bank, has approved the Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project (RESPITE), unlocking $311 million in International Development Association financing to increase grid-connected renewable energy capacity across West Africa, namely Chad, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Togo.
Including a $20 million grant to strengthen the capabilities of the West Africa Power Pool, RESPITE will help develop West Africa’s regional power sector through the improvement of intra-African power trade; the financing and installation of approximately 106MW of solar capacity with battery storage systems; the expansion of 41MW of hydropower capacity; as well as providing support for the distribution and transmission of electricity across the four countries.
“Solutions supported by the new project are manyfold and have substantial benefits for the countries and the region. Among others, it will provide fiscal space for countries to address food crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine, initiate development of competitively tendered grid-connected clean energy to alleviate current power supply crisis, positively address climate change by helping countries to move away from expensive and polluting fuels, and help synchronize the WAPP network to enhance regional integration in the energy sector,” stated Rhonda Jordan-Antoine, World Bank Task Team Leader of RESPITE.
Boutheina Guermazi, World Bank Director for Regional Integration for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Northern Africa, added that, “RESPITE provides benefits that spill over country boundaries and complements existing regional integration efforts in the energy sector involving all member states of the Economic Community of West African States.”
