CAR: the country’s second photovoltaic solar power plant (25 MWp) inaugurated in Danzi

The Central African Republic (CAR) is acquiring a new photovoltaic solar power plant. The facility inaugurated by President Faustin Archange Touadera on November 17, 2023 occupies a 70-hectare site in the village of Danzi, 20 km north of Bangui, the capital of the CAR. The plant is made up of 47,000 solar panels installed by the Chinese company Shanxi Construction Investissement Group, in the commune of Bégoua.

For the Central African president, “the recurring electricity problems are partly explained by the lack of investment for 40 years in this sector, which is nevertheless vital to the national economy. The construction of the Danzi photovoltaic power plant reflects the Central African government's desire to diversify sources of electricity production by placing emphasis on the development of hydroelectric, solar and biomass potential .

World Bank financing

The Danzi solar power plant, which is connected to a 30 MWh electricity storage system, was built as part of the Emergency Project for Access to Electricity (Puracell), financed to the tune of 37 billion francs. CFA (a little over 56 million euros) by the World Bank. Of these funds released in June 2019, 19 billion CFA francs (28.9 million euros) financed the construction of the Danzi solar power plant and its storage system.

The electricity thus produced is injected into the network of the public company Énergie centrafricaine (Enerca) from the existing transmission line (63 kV) which connects the Boali hydroelectric system to the capital Bangui. The Puracell project which allows this progress is implemented by the Central African government with the aim of improving the supply and access to electricity in the capital Bangui where a quarter of the country's population lives (a little over 'one million inhabitants), with an electrification rate of 35%, an installed production capacity of 28 MW compared to an unsatisfied demand estimated at around 60 MW.

Puracell also focuses on improving the transmission and distribution (T&D) network in order to absorb additional production capacity, particularly with the commissioning in April 2023 of the 15 MWp Sakaï solar power plant, as well as the from Danzi. The objective is to reduce T&D losses, while improving access through the extension of the distribution network and new connections across Bangui.