Tender For West Africa's Largest Light Storage Project: 390MW Solar Energy And 200MW Battery Storage

The developer of a mixed-use industrial park in Togo, West Africa, has launched a tender for a large-scale solar energy storage project, and a letter of intent (EOI) has been issued. The pan-African infrastructure developer Arise Integrated IndustrialPlatforms (Arise IIP) is working with the Government of the Republic of Togo on the 400-hectare Special Economic Zone (AdétikopéIndustrial Platform PIA) near the country's capital, Lome. The region will have industrial and logistics centres that will provide access to West Africa via the coast.

Arise IIP issued a notice on July 8 inviting EOI to use a DC PV plant with a capacity of 390MWp, plus a 200MW Battery Storage System (BESS) and associated 161KVA substation infrastructure for grid connectivity. According to the notice, these projects "primarily provide PIA with long-term reliable and sustainable power".

Participants have two options: to bid for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts and five years of operations and maintenance (O-M) or to enter into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Arisse IIP as a joint venture. Applicants need to have experience with at least one similar project, the economic capacity to commence implementation immediately upon receipt of the contract, and sufficient materials, technical resources and personnel suitable for the work of the project.

Tender documents will be available between 20 and 30 July 2021, after which there will be 12 weeks to submit proposals. The project is by far the largest of its kind announced on the African continent, following small-scale solar energy storage projects, including grid-side and microgrid projects, most recently in Madagascar, Somaliland and Mozambique. South Africa has also made history by bidding for energy storage projects over 1GWh, making renewable energy projects available for scheduling as the country seeks to quickly procure energy capacity to make up for supply shortages.