The project to build a biomass power plant in Boundiali is receiving support from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). It is providing a grant for technical assistance for this 25 MW power plant.
A new biomass power plant is to be built at Boundiali in the north of Ivory Coast. The project is supported by the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), which has signed a grant agreement with its promoter Ecostar Energy Ivory Coast, a subsidiary of the American company Ecostar Energy.
Ecostar has entrusted the technical assistance for its project to its compatriot Delphos International. “The partnership between USTDA and Ecostar will support the diversification of electricity generation in Côte d’Ivoire using a locally abundant renewable resource,” explains Enoh T. Ebong, Director of USTDA.
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The cotton stalks in question will be incinerated to produce electricity, giving the plant a capacity of 25 MW. Cotton is an abundant resource in the north of Ivory Coast. Since the late 1950s, cotton has been one of the most widely grown crops in the savannah regions. In this West African country, cotton cultivation occupies at least 300,000 hectares of land and provides a livelihood for more than 200,000 farmers.
Today, Ivory Coast is the third largest cotton producer on the African continent (behind Benin and Burkina Faso), with more than 490,000 tonnes of cotton harvested in 2020, according to the Atlasocio platform. The energy recovery of agricultural waste from this sector has helped to diversify Ivory Coast’s electricity mix, which is now 40% dependent on gas for power generation.
Jean Marie Takouleu
