Chinese Government provides CFA 17 billion grant for 15MW Sakaï Photovoltaic Power Plant Project

Project narrative

During the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in September 2018, the heads of state of China and the Central African Republic (CAR) agreed to cooperate on the construction of a photovoltaic power station in Bangui with a total power generation of 15 megawatts. In February 2019, the Government of the CAR announced its intentions to undertake a project feasibility study. Then, on August 7, 2019, the Chinese Government and the Government of the CAR signed an exchange of letters regarding the 15MW Sakaï Photovoltaic Power Plant Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) reportedly issued a grant worth CFA 17 billion in support of the project. The purpose of the project was to construct a 15 MW solar power plant (‘field’) in Sakaï within the municipality of Bimbo (west of the capital Bangui). The power plant has 33,432 solar panels of nearly two square meters each, aligned in a 16-hectare field, which supply electricity to factories, schools and homes in the capital city of Bangui. Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co. Ltd was the contractor responsible for project design. Tianjin Electric Power Construction (TEPC) was the contractor responsible for project implementation. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on January 17, 2020. However, Chinese technical teams could not make it to the project site until November 2020. Construction ultimately began on April 8, 2021. The power plant was plant was commissioned on a trial basis on June 15, 2022.