Lender to provide $62million for African wind farm

AFRICA: A project to build the first large-scale wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa has received a major boost after two institutions announced they were providing $62million towards its construction.

by Shem Oriere 15 October 2010

The 28MW development in the Cape Verde islands off Africa’s west coast is estimated to cost $95million.

To help move it forward, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed $42million and $20million loans respectively, with the Cape Verde government.

The wind farm will be developed by InfraCo in a public-private partnership between the Cape Verde government and local power utility Electra. It is the first project in the region to be developed under a public-private partnership scheme.

Cape Verde Minister of Finance Cristina Duarte said: "Cape Verde is pleased to host the first large scale wind farm project in Africa and the project will help Cape Verde provide 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

European Investment Bank vice president responsible for Africa Plutarchos Sakellaris, said the project "establishes wind energy as a competitive alternative to traditional diesel generation in Cape Verde."

Wind power currently contributes 2% of the power supplied to the Cape Verde’s National Grid.