Senegal is poised to get a 40 MW, 160 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), expected to be one of the largest in West Africa.

Work on the project is scheduled to get under way in 2024 and it will be operational by 2025, reports Energy Storage News. The BESS will be developed by part Egyptian-owned Infinity Power at the Tobène substation in Thies, in western Senegal, and operated in tandem with the 158.7 MW wind farm the Parc Eolien Taiba N’Diaye.

State power utility Senelec has signed a 20-year capacity change agreement (CCA), similar to a power-purchase agreement, with the developer and expects to save the grid US$165 million over the plant’s operating life.

Senelec GM Papa Mademba Biteye says the CCA will ‘play a pivotal role across both operational and financial levels through a long-term guaranteed performance to provide increased grid stability, integrate renewable energy into Senelec’s electricity grid and empower Senegal in becoming an independent power producer’.

28 November 2023
Image: Freepik