Cote d’Ivoire Declares End of 45-day Energy Crisis

By AFP

Aug 04, 2021 05:08 PM

A woman wears a mask in Azaguié Ahoua near Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire on Friday. Photo: AFP

The Cote d'Ivoire government on Tuesday declared the end of the country's energy crisis after weeks of electricity rationing and power cuts.

"The supply of electricity has been restored since July 9 throughout the country," said Energy Minister Thomas Camara.

"Electricity rationing has ended," after 45 days, he told a press conference in Abidjan.

To avoid a similar crisis in future, the West African nation has acquired a new reserve power plant with a capacity of 200 megawatts (mW) and repaired the Azito plant in Abidjan, Camara said.

A breakdown occurred back in April at the Azito fossil-fuel site, which generates a third of the country's electricity.

In normal times, Cote d'Ivoire's electricity capacity is more than enough to meet domestic demand - the surplus is sold to neighboring states.

It has installed capacity of 2,300 mW, compared to peak consumption of 1,600 mW.

In 2020, it exported 11 percent of electricity production to Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Liberia.

But the breakdown at the Azito plant hit both households and businesses. Low water levels in the nation's dams also reduced capacity along with a shortage of natural gas.

The Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE), privatized in 1990 and owned mainly by pan-African group Eranove, has a monopoly on the production, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity.

Cote d'Ivoire aims to have 16 percent of its energy produced from renewable sources by 2030.

AFP