$400 Million Solar Panel and Wind farm Project in Djibouti

POWER: Solar Power Project Launched in Djibouti

POWER: Solar Power Project Launched in Djibouti

Djibouti has launched a project to build a 300-megawatt (MW) solar power plant and is planning a 60 MW wind farm as part of an initiative to generate all the tiny nation’s power from renewables within five years, a minister said on Friday.

The solar power plant, which will cost 360 million euros ($394 million), will be built in phases by German Firm Green Enesys. President Ismail Omar Guelleh laid the foundation stone this week at the Grand Bara plain site, south of the capital.

Djibouti, home to an international port as well as U.S. and French military bases, now relies heavily for its power via a link to hydropower plants in neighbouring Ethiopia. It wants to produce all its power from renewables by 2020.

Construction work starts in earnest on the solar plant in the first quarter of 2016, with the first of six phases completed by the end of 2016, Energy Minister Ali Yacoub Mahamoud told Reuters. Each phase is for 50 MW.

Electricite de Djibouti will sign a power purchase agreement to take power from the privately funded project, the first solar plant in Djibouti to be connected to the national grid, the minister said.

Djibouti is building smaller solar power plants to supply 25 villages in the next five years, with three of them already up and running, but none of these projects are connected to the grid, the minister said.

“We will soon proceed with the laying of the first stone of a wind turbine farm of 60 MW, financed by Qatar,” the minister said, adding that a company to carry out the project was being chosen and the project could be launched in weeks.

Aside from the power link to Ethiopia which supplies about 65 percent of Djibouti’s needs, the country has just 100 MW of installed generation capacity of its own, some of which is not connected to the grid.

Limited access to a reliable power supply is seen as a major obstacle to growth across Africa

Electrical Power in Djibouti

Djibouti Renewable Energy projects

TKE-Djibouti Power Light (DJPL) is now operational in the Republic of Djibouti. DJPL has been formed for the sole purpose of providing electric energy through various renewable power resources to the country and will be made available to various organizations and corporations such as the US Navy expeditionary base Camp Lemonier. A Public Private Partnership Agreement has been signed with TKE-DJPL, which authorizes TKE-DJPL to generate, transmit, and sell electricity. 

There are 5 phases to the project that will be completed within 36 months to provide 102MW of electricity. Phase I will provide 10MW of electricity with 10MW of conventional and 2MW of renewable generation. Phase II will provide 20MW of electricity from 20MW of conventional, and 6MW of renewable generation. Phase III will provide 34MW of electricity with 34MW of conventional and 10MW of renewable generaiton. Phase IV will provide 52MW  of electricity with 52MW of conventional, and 14MW of renewable.  The final phase will be 50MW.

Energy recovery will focus on reprocessing of various waste products, such as waste oil, which can not be currently disposed or reused in Djibouti. These waste products will be processed into usable fuels to be used in power generators. This will provide power very quickly as well as address the environmental problems of waste disposal.

Renewable energy projects have been attempted in the past with limited results. The most recent major attempt  failed due to the economic downturn. The Republic of Djibouti, led by Electricité du Djibouti (EDD), created an environment that will allow for private investors to realize a good return on investment over a 25 year term. The Republic has also enlisted the assistance of outside specialists in business and technology which have formed TKE-DJPL. TKE-DJPL has been given the opportunity to provide power, through EDD, to the republic as well as to other entities such as the various military bases.

Overview

The organisation responsible for electricity generation and supply is Electricité du Djibouti, known as the EDB. The organisation is state owned. Installed capacity in 1993 was exclusively thermal, with the majority being diesel fired plant.

Djibouti currently has installed electricity generating capacity of 85 megawatts (MW), all of which is thermal (oil-fired). In January 2001, U.S.-based Geothermal Development Associates (GDA) announced that it had completed a feasibility study on the development of a 30-MW geothermal power plant in Djibouti. The study, which commenced in August 2000, established the commercial viability of the proposed generating facility. The $115 million plant, to be located in the Lake Assal region west of the capital, will be constructed on the build own operate (BOO) financing scheme. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF), a joint initiative of the World Bank and the United Nations (UN), has approved a $280,000 financing package to pay for contract negotiations required for the project. To date, however, these funds have not been released. At the same time, however, Electricite de Djibouti, the national electric company, has begin to remove aging diesel-fired generating units. To continue to provide power to rural residents, the government, with the help of a grant from a number of Arab financial institutions, is installing solar and wind capacity. The primary goal of the project is to replace old diesel powered rural water pumps with new ones powered by renewable resources, but excess energy will be used for electrification.

Ethopia has made plans to begin exporting electrical power to Djibouti and Sudan by 2010.

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