BOAD participates in the financing of the largest private photovoltaic power plant in West Africa located in Kita, Mali.

Lomé, 18 January 2018. The West African Development Bank (BOAD), the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), managed by Investec Asset Management and their partners, the FMO, National Agricultural Development Bank of Mali (BNDA), Green Africa Power (GAP) and GuarantCo have secured a €77 million credit facility to finance the construction and operation of a 50MWp photovoltaic power plant by AKUO AKITO SOLAR, under a Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) arrangement.

The credit facility was co-arranged by BOAD and EAIF. The Bank itself contributed XOF11 billion out of the XOF13.1 billion it was mandated to raise as part of the senior debt for the construction of the Kita plant, which will be the first photovoltaic plant owned and operated by an independent power producer in Mali, and the largest solar power plant in West Africa.

The project will help strengthen Mali’s power supply and reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 1,400,000 tonnes over the project duration. Eric Scotto, President and Co-founder of Akuo Energy, the project sponsor, indicated that: “Renewable energy is vital for Africa’s economic growth, independence and education. This is particularly true for Mali, where the expectations of the population are very high. The signing of this major financing is a first step, and we are grateful to EAIF and Investec Asset Management for their support. We are also very grateful to BOAD, which led the structuring of the portion in XOF, and to FMO, BNDA, GAP and GuarantCo for making this financing possible”.

BOAD’s involvement in this operation is consistent with its 2015-2019 strategic plan, which aims, among other things, to provide financing for independent power projects in the area energy infrastructure. More specifically, it is part of the Bank’s 2015-2019 environmental and climate strategy of promoting projects with high environmental, social and climate benefits.

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