Ivory Coast: a biomass power plant will emerge
Audio 02:13
Côte d'Ivoire hopes to reach 42% of renewable energies in its energy mix by 2030. © CC0 Pixabay / Sergei Akulich
By: François Hume-Ferkatadji Follow
3 min
In a few days, construction work on the largest biomass plant in West Africa will begin in the south-east of Côte d'Ivoire in the town of Aboisso.
Funded mainly by a loan from Proparco, the project is carried by the Franco-Ivorian company Biovea Energie at a cost of 230 million euros.
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From our correspondent in Abidjan,
The works will start in the coming days.
Biovea Energie, a company owned by EDF, Meridiam and the Ivorian group Sifca, will build a biomass-based electricity production plant.
Raphaël Ruat, CEO of Biovea, describes the principle.
“
These are the palm leaves that are on the ground today.
They are cut to access the palm regime.
These leaves, we will cut them to take the first part of the stem.
That we will transport to our production plant.
That we will grind, and thanks to the combustion of these leaves, we will produce water vapor and therefore electricity.
"
Higher production capacity
With a production capacity of 46 MW, this biomass plant will be one of the largest in Africa.
“
Internationally, a biomass plant is rather between 5 and 10 MW installed.
So we are very big for biomass, and that corresponds to roughly 1.7 million Ivorian consumers so it is not nothing
”, he adds.
Today palm leaves to produce electricity, tomorrow perhaps cocoa pods;
the project is under study.
Plant residues which are not valued or very little at this stage and which, according to Raphaël Ruat, could bring additional wages to small producers.
"
By purchasing biomass from village planters, who represent the vast majority of those who will supply us, it is more than three quarters of the supply that comes from village plantations, well we will have a complement of an income of 5 to 10% for them,
”assures Raphaël Ruat.
Reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030
Côte d'Ivoire has a comprehensive renewable energy development project and has great ambitions by announcing its desire to reduce its CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030. According to Arnaud Niesz, energy expert for the NGO Nitidae, Large-scale biomass energy projects must, however, take into account the possible difficulties
The logistics associated with harvesting crop waste are quite heavy due to the bursting of deposits, and we work with waste that currently has no value, but which will inevitably acquire it when demand is created. , if the supply were to be compromised, there is the risk that wood will be used as a substitute.
Last nuance, plant waste is not actually completely useless since it also contributes to soil fertility.
The construction of the site will last at least three years, the first watts of the Aboisso power station should be produced at the end of 2024.
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Ivory Coast