InfraCo Africa has partnered France-based developer Solvéo Energie by committing up to US$3.1million for a 45% equity interest in the development of a 40MW solar project in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.

InfraCo Africa, part of the multi-lateral Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), also signed the Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Solvéo Guinea Renewable Energy SA and Solvéo International Investments SARL.

The Khoumagueli Solar PV project, due to be Guinea’s first grid-connect PV plant, will add power to the country’s national grid, which has a current capacity of 566MW. The plant, located near the city of Linsan in the Province of Kindia, will connect to existing grid infrastructure.

Moreover, by delivering power during daylight hours, Khoumagueli will complement the nearby 75MW Garafiri hydro plant, enabling it to store water to run its turbines at full capacity overnight, which will increase the plant’s efficiency by up to 20%. The solar plant will also mitigate the effects of planned hydro plant refurbishments on outages.

The InfraCo investment will be used to fund early-stage development costs for the Khoumagueli project and provide an experienced resource through its contracted developer, Aldwych Africa Developments Ltd (AADL).

Kodjo Afidegnon, senior business development manager for West Africa, InfraCo Africa, said: “Khoumagueli Solar is an exciting project for InfraCo Africa and our partners as it adopts an innovative approach to the development of Guinea’s renewable energy sector; using solar to enhance the viability of the country’s existing hydro resource.”

InfraCo Africa is also co-financing a 50MW project with Access Power in Nigeria