The growing economy of Côte d’Ivoire puts the current power supply under pressure. The government thus set goals to increase its power production capacity by 2020 to about 4,000 MW and 6,000 MW by 2030 to meet the rising demand. In addition, the country aims to play a central role as a net exporter in the West African Power Pool.
Côte d’Ivoire relies to a large extent on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to generate and supply electricity to meet the growing energy demand. There are currently 3 IPPs in Côte d’Ivoire; they are Azito Energie, Ciprel and Aggreko. The country has a total installed capacity of 1,886 MW (2016) and produced a total of 8,618 GWh in 2015. As of 2017, 81% of the electricity is produced by thermal power stations while 19% is generated by hydropower plants. This balance may change with a new government owned 275 MW hydro plant expected to be commissioned in 2017. A 3 MW biomass plant was also reported to be online in 2015. Côte d’Ivoire has 55 isolated power plants that produced 10 GWh combined in 2015. In 2015, the country netted 849 GWh of exports to five clients: Énergie du Mali (EDM), Volta River Authority (VRA) in Ghana, Communauté Électrique du Bénin (CEB) for Bénin-Togo, the Société Nationale d’Électricité (SONABEL) in Burkina Faso, and the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
In its Strategic Plan for the Development of the Electricity Sector by 2030, the government identified 66 projects that will require significant investment from the private sector, including through public private partnerships with Independent Power Producers, to expand power capacity production and to modernize the transport and distribution of electricity throughout the country. Efforts are underway to increase hydroelectric and thermal electricity generation with construction of new hydroelectric dams and thermal power plants as well as expansion projects at existing thermal power plants. The government is also increasing its focus on rural electrification and encouraging the production of new and renewable energy sources.
Installed generation capacity (MW)
Power Station |
Type |
Installed Capacity (MW) |
Ayame 1 |
Hydro |
20 |
Ayame 2 |
Hydro |
30 |
Kossou |
Hydro |
174 |
Taabo |
Hydro |
210 |
Buyo |
Hydro |
165 |
Faye |
Hydro |
5 |
Vridi 1 |
Thermal |
100 |
CIPREL |
Thermal |
543 |
Azito Energie |
Thermal |
439 |
Aggreko |
Thermal |
200 |
Total |
|
1,886 |