EU Grants Nearly €7 Million for Ivory Coast’s “Promotion of Access, Smart Grids and Solar Energy” Project

The Government of Ivory Coast has signed an agreement with the European Union (EU) and the French Development Agency (AFD) to finance an electrification project for the rural areas of the country. The EU is granting €6.89 million (4.5 billion CFA Francs) in funding to Ivory Coast through the AFD for supporting the electrification project.

The agreement was signed between Adama Coulibaly, the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, Jean-Christophe Belliard, the French ambassador to Ivory Coast, and Jobst von Kirchmann, EU’s ambassador to Ivory Coast. The fund is allocated within the framework of the Promotion of Access, Smart Grids and Solar Energy project (PARIS). 

Adama Coulibaly said the financial facility granted by the EU is in addition to the initial financing of the project, amounting to €98 million. The funding will allow the electrification of 185 rural communities in the country.

The PARIS initiative was launched by the Ivorian government in 2019 to increase investment in the energy sector. The project focuses on several components; one devoted to improving the effective access to electricity in the rural areas. The project also includes the installation of a smart grid center in Abidjan and three distribution grid control centers.

Another part of the PARIS program concerns the construction of a 20 MWp floating solar plant on the reservoir of Kossou Dam. The renewable energy project, which is currently subject to a call for tenders, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector of Ivory Coast.

The recent EU funding will finance the cost of electricity connections for 13,000 households in the rural areas, strengthening the Ivory Coast’s goal of achieving universal access to electricity by 2025. According to the World Banks report, 70% of the population of this West African country has access to electricity.