Proparco and IFC to Lend €28 Million for 62 MWp of Solar in Benin

• Proparco and IFC will lend about €14 million each for four solar plants totalling 62 MWp in Benin, Proparco said on Nov. 2.
• AXIAN Energy Green owns 80% of the two project companies and Sika Capital 20%; state utility SBPE buys the power under 20-year contracts.
• Sagemcom builds the plants, and IFC puts construction at about 12 months; no commissioning date has been given.

Proparco and IFC will lend about €14 million ($15.7 million) each for four solar plants totalling 62 MWp in Benin, Proparco said on Nov. 2. The borrowers are two project companies owned by AXIAN Energy Green and its local partner Sika Capital.

ParaBo SAS will build the Parakou and Bohicon plants, 15 MWac each, according to IFC's project disclosure. NatiDjo SAS takes Natitingou and Djougou, 10 MWac each. AXIAN Energy Green owns 80% of both companies and Sika Capital 20%. State utility SBPE will buy the output under four 20-year power purchase agreements.

Proparco called the portfolio the country's first project developed by an independent power producer in a statement. It said the plants equal about 10% of Benin's installed generating capacity. Benin aims for 30% renewables in its energy mix by 2030, AXIAN said when it announced the project in August 2025.

The financing in numbers

• About €28 million ($31 million) of combined debt from Proparco and IFC (list.solar calculation).
• €45 million of total investment, as announced by AXIAN; IFC's disclosure estimates €44.9 million.
• About €450,000 ($506,000) of development-bank debt per MWp, or roughly 62% of the €45 million budget (list.solar calculation).
• 62 MWp of modules against 50 MWac of grid capacity, a DC/AC ratio of 1.24 (list.solar calculation).
• About 62,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent avoided a year and better power access for nearly 50,000 households, according to Proparco.
• 48 GWh, about 3%, of Benin's 1,388 GWh of 2023 power generation came from solar, IRENA data show.

French company Sagemcom will build the plants and maintain them for their first two years. IFC's half of the debt is split equally between its own loan and a concessional loan from the Clean Technology Fund. IFC puts that subsidy at about 7% of project cost. The cheap loan was offered to bidders in what IFC calls Benin's first successful utility-scale solar IPP tender.

GreenYellow sponsored the project until AXIAN Energy bought it in 2024, IFC said. AXIAN Energy also runs a 60-MW / 72-MWh solar-and-storage project at Kolda in Senegal.

"By supporting Benin's first independent power producer project, we are helping to increase local generation of competitive renewable energy," said Sadio Dicko, Proparco's West Africa director.

Neither lender gave a commissioning date. IFC's disclosure, last updated Oct. 16, listed the investment as pending signing and put construction at about 12 months.