London, Dec. 19, 2019 (AltAfrica)-Senegal’s Taiba N’Diaye wind farm plant is now connected to the national electricity grid. It already supplies the latter with 50 MW just 10 months after the start of construction.

Work on the erection of the electric turbines is also continuing and will be completed at the end of the current year. The substation that is to carry production from the plant has already been commissioned, according to Lekela.

Once completed, the Taiba N’Diaye wind power plant will have a total capacity of 158.7 MW and will supply 150,000 households. Its completion is scheduled for mid-2020 and it will increase the share of renewables in the Senegalese energy mix by 15%.

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Lekela, which is 60% owned by Actis and 40% by a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power and bringing together, among others, the IFC and the Rockefeller Brothers Funds, currently has a portfolio of 1 GW of wind power plants in operation

The 158MW Taiba N’Diaye wind farm, underconstruction in the Thies region, approximately 70km north-east of Dakar, is the first utility-scale wind power project in Senegal, Western Africa.

The onshore wind power project is being developed by Lekela, a company focused on renewable energy development in Africa.

Lekela reached financial closure for the project in July 2018. Construction works were started in December 2018, while the first turbine was erected in July 2019.

Scheduled for comissioning in 2020, the Taiba N’Diaye wind farm is expected to generate 400GWh of clean electricity a year and offset 300,000t of annual carbon emissions.

The electricity generated by each turbine will be transmitted through 33kV underground cables to the existing Tobene substation located 700m away from the closest turbine of the wind farm. It will be stepped-up to 225kV at the substation.

The project doesn’t require any transmission line as the Tobene substation will act as the project substation as well as the grid connection point.

Power purchase agreement

Senegal National Electricity Company (SENELEC) signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Taiba N’Diaye wind power project in 2013.

Under the agreement, the state-owned utility will purchase the entire power generated by the wind farm for 20 years.

Taiba N’Diaye wind farm financing

The US Government’s development finance institution Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) committed $250m in financing and $70m in reinsurance for the wind power project in September 2016.

The Danish Export Credit Agency EKF also guaranteed a ‎€140m ($161m) export loan facility for the project in August 2018.

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