French solar management company Sunna Design has signed a contract with the Togolese government to supply and install solar street lamps in the rural areas of Togo. The contract was signed on the sidelines of the Paris visit of President Faure Gnassingbé in April this year.
The contract valued at €40 million involves the supply and installation of 50,000 connected solar street lamps in several thousand non-electrified rural villages including the maintenance and related services for 12 years, under a public-private partnership (PPP).
Sunna Design will receive the fund from the General Directorate of the French Treasury, as a part of the Togolese government’s initiative ‘CIZO’ project. The CIZO project launched in 2017, aims to electrify 500,000 rural households, affecting around 1.5 million inhabitants of thousands of villages. The project emerges as a major pillar in Togo’s National Development Plan, ensuring UNDP’s goal of universal access to electricity by 2030.
Mila Aziable, the Minister Delegate to the President of the Republic, in charge of Energy and Mines in Togo, said, “This partnership reflects the Head of State’s will to make energy accessible to rural populations using sustainable solutions. Having Sunna Design by our side and benefiting from its expertise in the field of solar lighting shows the importance of renewable energies in our national development policies, and sets the tone of the large-scale electrification project CIZO.”
The project will also allow the continuation of experiments focusing on skill improvement on the WiFi Grid to offer internet access through the solar street lamps in some target areas. The project looks forward to combining decentralized energy and broadband connectivity to provide both public lighting and Internet access to the people, complementing the country’s vision towards accelerating the convergence between energy and digital technology.
Sunna Design’s CEO, Ignace de Prest said, “The trust granted by the Togo Government – a visionary, pioneer and highly demanding partner in the fields of electrification and digitization in a rural environment – acknowledges the solidity of Sunna Design’s know-how, as well as our capacity to innovate and accompany our clients over time.”
The solar streetlights will be launched in priority areas that will be identified through a census study of rural infrastructure. Sunna Design will also provide a transparent platform to monitor the implementation and performance of the solar solution and the data will be available to public authorities as well as private and financial partners.
According to Power Africa, only 16% of the rural population in Togo has access to electricity. Public lighting grids have an impact on the living conditions of rural communities and their economic development. Installing solar street lights makes for an appropriate public lighting and connection service in rural off-grid areas.
