TWO MILLION PEOPLE TO RECEIVE CLEAN ENERGY FROM SENEGAL’S NEW WIND FARM

With the wind farm, 30% of all energy used in Senegal will be from renewable sources... Representative Image Source: Unsplash/ZHANG FENGSHENG

Senegal inaugurated the first large-scale wind farm in West Africa on Monday, a facility that will supply nearly one sixth of the country’s power when it reaches full capacity later this year. With the wind farm, Senegal will get 30% of its energy from renewable sources, which has been a goal of President Macky Sall. The 158 megawatt wind farm was built by British renewable power company Lekela, which also has wind farms in South Africa and Egypt and an upcoming one in Ghana.

Briefing on the development, Papa Mademba Biteye, Director-General of Senelec, the national electricity company, said, “The energy mix we have today allows us to move past our dependence on petrol.”

Wind farms remain scarce throughout sub-Saharan Africa compared with solar plants, partly because they can cost more and take longer to build and because strong wind is generally less plentiful than sunshine, said Silvia Macri, an energy analyst at IHS Markit. “Senegal pushed ahead its renewables agenda quite aggressively,” Macri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Senegal’s first solar plant came online three years ago, and the country has since built several more. Other countries in the region are following suit with solar but are much further behind in terms of wind, Macri added. In Taiba N’Diaye, 46 giant wind turbines rise over scrubland about 90 km (56 miles) from the seaside capital. One-third are operating, and the rest are due to come online by June.

Leave a Reply