German project management company Gauff Engineering has completed the commissioning of solar-powered mini-grids in several villages of the Kolda region in Senegal. The installations of the solar photovoltaic plants were completed under the Senegalese Rural Electrification Agency (ASER) 300 project banner.
The ASER 300 project aims to provide self-sufficient, decentralized solar power supply in more than 300 rural areas in Senegal. ASER has signed an engineering, procurement, and project management (EPPM) agreement with Gauff Engineering for the implementation of this solar energy project.
ASER expects to complete the installations of the solar mini-grids in the targeted 300 villages by the end of 2024. Under the initiative, around 60 villages in the Kolda region have been equipped with solar-powered mini-grids, five of which were recently commissioned.
The latest beneficiary villages are located in the administrative departments of Kolda, Médina Yoro Foulah, and Vélingara in the Kolda region. These villages which previously were not connected to the electric network, now have a sustainable, reliable source of renewable electricity along with complete grid distributions.
Baba Diallo, the Director-General of the ASER who initiated the ASER 300 project, was present at the inauguration of the solar mini-grids in these rural areas. The local population thanked the Senegalese authorities, ASER, and especially Gauff Engineering, which planned and installed the project as the general contractor of ASER.
The 60 solar-powered mini-grids in the Kolda region are in addition to the 44 solar mini-grids that already have been put into operation in the Kaffrine region. Gauff Engineering is also preparing the installations of 80 such mini-grids in the northern parts of the country.
The ASER 300 project has an overall investment of €120 million and is supported by the financing of the KfW Ipex-Bank, the subsidiary of the German development agency KfW, as well as financial credit coverage from German insurer Euler Hemes. The rural electrification project of Senegal also aims to improve public lighting through the commissioning of 3,600 solar street lights.
 300 project banner, providing a reliable and sustainable source of renewable electricity in previously unconnected areas.){kind=link}