Part of Miro Forestry and Timber Products’ operations are now powered by solar energy. This is thanks to a solar photovoltaic plant that was commissioned a few days ago at the company’s factory in Tonkolili, Sierra Leone. The plant has a capacity of 236 kWp and is connected to a 389 kWh battery storage system. The project was developed and financed by CrossBoundary Energy, an investment company based in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to CrossBoundary Energy, the solar plant is capable of covering 25% of the needs of Miro Forestry and Timber Products’ Tonkolili mill. “The project is the first commercial and industrial solar power purchase agreement for a forestry company in West Africa,” says CrossBoundary.
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The new facilities enable Miro to reduce its fossil fuel consumption in a global context of rising energy prices. The implementation of this project was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The US financial institution also supported CrossBoundary’s entry into the Sierra Leonean market in 2017, with a grant of $1 million. The investment company plans to replace the diesel generators that many businesses in Sierra Leone use. According to the United States Agency for International Trade (ITA), the West African country has one of the highest electricity tariffs in the West African sub-region, due in part to low generation capacity. According to the same source, the country has an installed electrical capacity of only 150 MW, serving 150,000 customers for a population estimated by the World Bank at nearly 8 million. This situation is pushing companies to turn to diesel generators.
Jean Marie Takouleu