Rural electrification: A solar streetlight project recently kicked off in Kadjanga, northern Togo

Energy

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 12:36

Rural electrification: A solar streetlight project recently kicked off in Kadjanga, northern Togo

(Togo First) - Last week, President Faure Gnassingbé kicked off a project to install 50,000 autonomous and smart solar street lamps in Kadjanga, a village located in the Binah prefecture (northern Togo). The project aligns with Togo’s ambition to achieve 100% electrification by 2030. It will cover 4599 communities across the country, with emphasis on the Savanes region.

The solar street lamps initiative falls under the Rural Public Solar Electrification Program (PEP'S Rural). It will improve the lighting system in border areas, localities electrified by solar kits, as well as social infrastructures, such as man-powered pumps, schools, health centers, and markets. Already, the Togolese Agency for Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy (AT2ER) has carried out and validated a census of all the country's infrastructure in this framework.

Installing the solar street lamps will cost €40 million (about CFA26 billion). France is the financial backer and in April 2021 it signed with Togo four agreements–including two aimed at boosting access to clean energy in the African country. The agreements were signed while President Gnassingbé was in Paris for an official visit.

Sunna Design, a French firm, is in charge of implementing the project, and it will collaborate with local SMEs.

These 50,000 streetlights add to over 15,000 others of the ISSL+ model installed in villages situated in the prefectures of Binah, Oti, Oti Sud, Tone, Kpendjal Ouest, and Tandjouaré.

Some similar initiatives launched in Togo to increase access to electricity include the Cizo project (where individual solar kits are provided to households), the Blitta solar photovoltaic power plant, the Tinga Fund, and mini solar power plants in the country's villages.

Esaïe Edoh

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