Ivory Coast's power sector management agency CI-Energies and China's state-owned hydropower engineering firm Sinohydro have started flowing water in the Soubré hydropower plant in south-western Ivory Coast.
Located on the Naoua falls over Sassandra River, the 275 MW dam project was financed by a US$500m loan from the Export-Import Bank of China in 2013 and construction was awarded to Sinohydro, which selected Alstom to provide electromechanical equipment and technical services. First power is expected at the end of March 2017 and the project should reach full capacity within four months. It should generate 1.1 TWh/year.
Since 2012, Ivory Coast has launched a power generation capacity development plan, aiming to reach 4 GW of installed capacity by 2020 and more than 6 GW by 2030 (compared to around 2 GW currently). In 2016, it secured two loans with China for a total amount of US$809m (FCFA470bn) to develop and upgrade the power transmission grid. The country aims to be self-sufficient and to become a net power exporter in the region; Ivory Coast already exports power to Ghana, Togo, Bénin, Burkina Faso and Mali (planned exports to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea).
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