With ENGIE, the Ivory Coast is on track for the energy revolution!

News

01/03/2017 – Last February 24, Isabelle Kocher travelled to Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, to meet ENGIE’s local teams and talk with the President of the Republic Alassane Ouattara on subjects including solar projects and LNG in the country.
Already on the path towards the energy transition, the Ivory Coast’s objective is to raise the share of renewable energies in its energy mix to 42 % by 2030. The President Alassane Ouattara expressed his wish to reinforce the participation of our Group in the country’s energy ecosystem. In this context, Isabelle Kocher and Alassane Ouattara discussed the 25 MW solar project as part of a call for expressions of interest with the Ivory Coast’s Energy Ministry and the 150 MW solar project in the town of Bouaké, which our Group is ready to support for the purposes of its commitment to the sustainable growth of the African continent. “We are working on ‘solar home system’ projects (local production from solar panels). The customers are manufacturers. We have projects for reducing their energy consumption and hence enabling them to be more competitive and growing a little more than today”, reiterated Isabelle Kocher to the press at the end of this exchange. The subject of ENGIE’s participation in the LNG project in Ivory Coast, including downstream activities in distribution, was also addressed during these talks. “ENGIE can help to find more smart applications of this gas downstream of this terminal”, pointed out Isabelle Kocher. Other possibilities for projects in the area of sustainable cities, particularly with the Decentralised Solutions for Cities and Territories Business Line, based on the greater Abidjan project, were the subject of discussions between Isabelle Kocher and the President of the Republic. This visit to Abidjan was also the opportunity for Isabelle Kocher, accompanied in particular by Bruno Besnsasson, Chief Executive Officer Africa, to meet ENGIE’s local teams at their facility. Opened in January 2016, the Abidjan office is the Group’s first in West Africa and is mainly in charge of developing the Group’s business areas in the region. The office is directed by Philippe Miquel, Area Manager.

In brief: our Group in Africa

In Africa, we give priority to a local, partnership-based approach. We want to play a key role on this continent to improve and extend access to sustainable energy for all. Last February 22, Isabelle Kocher published on LinkedIn an opinion piece on the topic of extending access to energy in Africa, read here. We are already present via a number of projects: the Aurora Wind Farm, the construction of the Kathu solar power plant in South Africa, the Tarfaya Wind Farm in Morocco and decentralised electricity generation with the mini-network PowerCorner. We are also widening our range of products and services in the area of energy efficiency and energy services. In the Ivory Coast, we have joined forces with Orange for the development of rural electrification. Nearly 1000 solar kits will be deployed as part of the pilot programme. The kits take the form of a solar panel connected to a battery for power-supplying domestic appliances. They include a remote control solution and a mobile phone payment system, supplying renewable and decentralised electricity to homes not connected to the grid. They can be used as a lighting solution with LED lights and to operate small electrical appliances (radio, television sets…) or to recharge mobile phones.