EIB and African Development Bank finance first large-scale wind farm in Africa

The European Investment Bank and African Development Bank today agreed to provide EUR 45m to design, build and operate onshore wind farms on four islands in the Cape Verde archipelago. This will be the first large scale wind project in Africa and first renewable energy public private partnership in sub-Saharan Africa. Wind energy was first introduced to Cape Verde in 1994, but until now only provides 2% of power needs in the small island state located 500km of the West African coast. The project will provide over 28MW of electricity generating capacity and help the island reach an ambitious target of ensuring that 25% of local power needs are provided by renewable energy by 2012 and 50% by 2020. The project is being developed by InfraCo in a public-private partnership between the government of Cape Verde and local power utility Electra.The project will introduce modern wind power technology provided by Vestas to enable wind power to be established as the primary alternative to electricity produced by fuel oil or diesel. The European Investment Bank will provide EUR 30m and the African Development Bank EUR 15m for the EUR 65m project. The project follows the European Union 2008 – 2013 Cape Verde country strategy.“Cape Verde is pleased to host the first large scale wind farm project in Africa and the project will help Cape Verde provide 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. We thank the European Investment Bank and African Development Bank for their financial support and expertise in making this project possible.” noted Cape Verde Minister of Finance Cristina Duarte.“The project propels Cape Verde into a position of leadership in renewable power generation in Africa where the country’s Public Private Partnership structure will be extensively studied and replicated throughout the region.” noted Fabio D. Borba, President of Cabeolica.The project will include comprehensive environmental studies, wind resource assessment and interconnections to the high-voltage network. All wind farms are expected to be operational by the end of 2011 and provide significant employment.