The 158.7MW Taiba N’Diaye wind farm in Senegal, majority owned by renewable power generation company Lekela, has successfully reached financial close. Mott MacDonald was lenders’ technical, environmental and social advisor during the project’s financing stage and will now provide construction and operations monitoring services as an ongoing role.
Constructed near the village of Taiba N’Diaye approximately 70km north east of Dakar, the wind farm will consist of 46 Vestas wind turbine generators. An on-site substation will boost the voltage of the electricity generated by the scheme from 33kV to 225kV via a transformer, while the adjacent Tobène substation will act as the grid connection point. Once operational, it is anticipated that the Taiba N’Diaye wind farm will provide over 450,000 MWh of energy per year for over two million people.
Mott MacDonald’s due diligence pre-financial close included reviewing early stage designs, the track-record of each project participant, the project schedule and contractual arrangements and construction and operational plans. The consultancy also actively participated in power purchase agreement negotiations with Senegal’s national grid operator and offtaker Senelec, undertook a grid integration study and energy yield, environmental and social impact assessments and analysed how the corresponding plans would feed into the financial model.
Matthias Vinard, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said: “Senegal has endured a limited electricity supply for some time, with regular power rationing and blackouts adversely affecting living conditions and economic development. The cost of electricity in the country is also high as nearly 90% of it is currently generated from costly fossil fuels. The Taiba wind farm is a transformative project that will form a significant portion of the Senegalese power generation mix once built and bring much needed affordable electricity to the country.”
Construction of the Taiba wind farm is expected to be completed in 2020.