Pan-African renewable energy developer Axian Energy is making progress on its commitment to achieve 1GW of installed renewables capacity by 2030, with schemes located across East and West Africa.

Most recently, in mid-November, the firm announced it had secured €84 million (US$ million) of funding for two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Senegal’s southern city of Kolda.

Construction is expected to begin in the coming weeks on the 60MW Kolda solar farm, which will be operated by Axian Energy and is said to be the largest scheme incorporating PV and BESS in West Africa. Completion is slated for 2026.

The plants are set to supply an estimated 235,000 people and the 72MWh BESS will help safeguard the supply of power for up to three hours during evening peak times.

On completion, the Kolda project will provide essential grid stabilisation and ancillary services to Senegal’s national electricity company Senelec.

The scheme’s overall investment cost is over €105 million, with €30.5 million each provided by the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF) and Dutch development bank FMO, along with €23 million from German development finance institution DEG.

“Investment in BESS technology will be crucial for assuring the continent’s transition to low-carbon economies by supporting additional renewable energy capacity on the grid,” said Tidiane Doucoure, director for emerging market alternative credit at Ninety One Group, the fund manager of EAAIF, which is a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company.

The government of Senegal aims for 40% of the country’s installed capacity to come from renewable energy by 2030.

Axian Energy currently has a renewables portfolio of 133MW installed capacity and a project pipeline of 800MW.

The company is a shareholder in Madagascar’s 120MW Volobe Amont hydropower project, which received funding commitments in mid-September, during the general assembly of shareholders of infrastructure investment platform Africa50.

Africa50 is another shareholder in the project company Volobe General Hydroelectric Company (CGHV).

At the shareholder assembly, it was revealed that the date of financial close for the US$594 million scheme has been pushed from September 2024 to 2025. 

In addition, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) signed a US$2 million financing agreement to provide technical assistance for the project and help maintain favourable conditions for financial close.

In addition, the EU signed a letter of intent with the government, expressing its interest in financing the scheme.
The Volobe Amont project will increase Madagascar's power production by about 20%, with an annual output of 750GWh. The government says the plant will provide electricity to nearly 2 million Malagasy.

The work involves building a dam and power plant on the Ivondro River in the country’s eastern region. Commercial operation is slated for 2028.

In early February, Axian Energy announced it had signed an agreement for the acquisition of solar assets in Madagascar and Burkina Faso from France’s GreenYellow, its strategic partner.

The firm acquired GreenYellow’s minority shares in Madagascar’s 40MW Ambatolampy solar plant, said to be the largest facility in the Indian Ocean and which includes a 5MWh BESS. The plant was commissioned in 2018 and its capacity was doubled by August 2022. Its capacity is expected to be further expanded to 50MW with 10MW/36MW of storage.

Axian Energy also took over shares in four hybrid power plants with a combined capacity of 19MW located in the Sava and Menabe regions. There are plans to increase the solar capacity of the facilities by 40%.

Together, the Madagascan projects currently contribute to improving access to electricity for approximately 600,000 people.

In Burkina Faso, Axian Energy acquired a 95% stake in the 30MW Nagreongo solar PV plant, which has an annual production capacity estimated at 49GWh and supplies more than 100,000 people. The plant’s capacity is planned to be extended by 20MW.

Axian Energy has also acquired a 49% stake in the 8.5MW Gigawatt Rwanda solar plant located 60km east of Rwanda’s capital city Kigali. The facility began operations in 2014 and provides power to nearly 140,000 people via a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Rwanda Energy Group.

Top photo: Ambatolampy solar plant in Madagascar (Source: Aera Group)