AfDB approves $1 million reimbursable grant to develop bioenergy plants in Ghana, Sierra Leone

By Yemi Olakitan

A reimbursable grant of $1 million from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has been authorised for NewAfrica Impact Ltd(link is external) to set up two bioenergy facilities in Ghana and Sierra Leone that will each produce 5 megawatts of electricity and 11 megawatts of heat.

By assisting technical feasibility studies and regulatory structuring, the reimbursable award will increase the project’s bankability. Renewable energy developers, investors, and advisors make up NewAfrica Impact.

The plants will be positioned beside wood processing companies to offer biomass from plantations that have been certified to be sustainably farmed. They will supply heat and electricity to the nearby industrial parks and equipment for processing wood. Additionally, the nearby communities will receive electricity from the Sierra Leone facility.

Mads Asprem, Managing Partner of NewAfrica Impact Ltd. (link is external), stated, “With the project approved, we will develop a new effective solution for combining the generation of energy for productive use and household consumption through mini-grids. The SEFA process has already assisted us in raising the standard of our development work, including the environment impact assessments. Baseload electricity is produced by bioenergy, which also makes use of mainstream renewable energy sources. Additionally, compared to other renewable energy sources, it has more advantageous effects.

The facilities should add a total of 22 megawatts of thermal capacity and 10 megawatts of electrical capacity. A total of 5,000 households will receive power from them, and they will provide 125 temporary employment during the construction period and another 60 jobs when the plants are operational. There will be 250 more indirect employment generated, with 30% of them going to women. With this project, annual carbon emissions will be reduced by 45 ktCO2.

“Bioenergy is a technology that struggles to be successfully implemented on the African continent and as a result needs support from Multilateral Development Banks such as the African Development Bank,” said Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate, and Green Growth at the African Development Bank. We are certain that this project will aid in the emergence of bioenergy in Africa by selecting the appropriate technology and securing feedstock in the necessary quality and quantity.