News about the project to build a biomass power plant in Ayébo in Ivory Coast. The developer of the project, Biovea Energy, has signed a partnership with Movis Ivory Coast; a company specialized in logistics and supply chain. The subsidiary of Movis International will handle the logistics and transportation of the biomass from the collection sites to the Ayébo power plant in south eastern Ivory Coast.
The future power plant will produce electricity by incinerating oil palm waste. This agricultural waste will be collected over 25 years by Movis from 12,000 farmers. The Ayébo power plant will have two units of 23 MW each. The total capacity of the plant will be 46 MW. The electricity will be produced by disposing of 480,000 tons of oil palm waste.
The special purpose company Biovea Energie is 40% owned by Électricité de France (EDF) and 36% by Meridiam, a French company specialized in the development, financing and management of infrastructure projects. Biokala, the subsidiary of the large Ivorian industrial group Sifca, holds the remaining 24%. Biovea has already signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE).
For the entire project, Biovea will invest 129 billion CFA francs, nearly 200 million euros. The company will rely on loans from Proparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency (AFD), as well as financing from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). The Ayébo plant is also receiving funding from the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and its subsidiary Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF). The plant is expected to begin commercial operations in 2023.
