The energy company Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed an agreement with the Ivorian authorities. Objective: to study the possibility of installing a solar photovoltaic plant with a capacity of between 50 and 70 MWp.

Masdar’s (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) offensive is continuing in West Africa. In Ivory Coast, the company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is exploring the possibility of installing a solar power plant with a capacity of between 50 and 70 MWp. An agreement to carry out studies for the project was recently signed between Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, the Ivorian Minister of Mines, Oil and Energy, and Fawaz Al Muharrami, Masdar’s executive director for clean energy.

According to Masdar, the construction of this solar power plant would support the climate and energy goals of the government of Côte d’Ivoire. “Ivory Coast has committed, as part of the climate change agreements, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 32% and to increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity mix to 42% by 2030,” said Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly.

An initiative of the Etihad 7 program

According to official figures, Côte d’Ivoire has an installed capacity of 2,369 MW, with a target of 4,000 MW by 2025. In 2030, a target of 5,000 MW has been set, with 42% renewable energy. Currently, 70% of the electricity distributed in Ivory Coast is produced from gas, a fossil fuel that is currently the subject of debate, as it is considered by some to be a transitional energy and by others to be as polluting as fuel oil or coal.

However, “Ivory Coast has drawn up a master plan for the development of its production tool which integrates solar, hydroelectric and biomass. The framework agreement we have just signed with Masdar, along with a first project of 50 to 70 MW, will contribute, in addition to the other initiatives that the Ivorian government is undertaking, to the achievement of this ambitious objective,” adds Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly. Masdar will make this investment as part of the Etihad 7 initiative.

This program launched in 2022 by the UAE aims to develop an installed renewable energy capacity of 20,000 MW to supply 100 million people in Africa by 2035. And in this context, Masdar has already signed agreements during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2023, with authorities in several African countries for the construction of solar power plants. In Angola, for example, the UAE company plans to develop an installed capacity of 2,000 MWp of solar photovoltaic energy over the next few years.