World's largest solar hybrid power plant opens in West Africa

The world’s largest solar hybrid power plant has been built in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The project, supplied by Wärtsilä, saw a new 15MW solar PV plant, with associated hybrid controls, combined with an existing 57 MW diesel power plant, at an off-grid gold mine.

The hybrid facility, located north-east of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital city, will enable the Essakane gold mine, also in Burkina Faso to be powered in part by renewable energy. This is estimated to reduce fuel consumption at the mine by around 6mn litres of diesel per year, while lowering the plant’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by up to 18,500 tonnes, says Wärtsilä. 

Wärtsilä was chosen by Total Eren and the African Energy Management Platform to build the plant.

Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Business Development at Total Eren, said: ‘We are looking to replicate this type of hybridisation, especially in Africa, where mines cannot always rely on the national grid.’  

Africa has traditionally relied on hydropower as its main energy source, but in recent years has turned increasingly to PV, thanks to falling costs for solar power and rising electricity demand across the continent. The International Agency Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that, with ‘the right enabling policies’, Africa could generate more than 70 GW of solar PV capacity by 2030.