Burundi eyes doubling of large-scale solar capacity

• The President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has actually authorized an intended doubling of the capacity of the nation's initial large-scale solar farm, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for which was held today.

Africa-focused Gigawatt Global established the 7.5-MW project in Mubuga, near the resources Gitega, over a duration of 6 years. French firm Voltalia SA handled the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work.

At the ceremony, President Ndayishimiye stated that the country is open to guide foreign investment to catalyse economic growth for its people. "We have excellent soil for tea and also coffee and also a laborious population. As well as thanks to this solar area, and my agreement to increase the size of it, we have actually enhanced power security that can reliably run agro-businesses," he claimed.

The initial project was financed by a consortium including pan-African exclusive equity investor Inspired Evolution by means of its Evolution II Fund, and the UK government-funded Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP), in addition to Gigawatt Global.