100 MW Tamba Solar Plant Financing Consideration

FMO is considering up to USD 146.5 million in senior debt for the 100 MW Tamba Solar Plant, proposing USD 89.5 million from its own balance sheet and USD 57.5 million from other lenders, and the plants output is contracted to Senelec under a 25-year power purchase agreement backed by a sovereign guarantee. FMO said the disclosure does not constitute a firm commitment and is taking public comment on the proposal. The plant includes a 180 MWh battery that would be sized to provide firming and daily discharge services.

The batterys 180 MWh capacity equates to roughly three hours of discharge at a 60 MW output, giving the plant multi-hour flexibility for grid balancing. That storage size is about two and a half times the 72 MWh battery being paired with 60 MW of solar at the NEA Kolda Solar Plant, where development lenders including FMO closed USD 72 million of financing and commissioning is due.

Taranis Operations holds 90% of the Tamba project company and the Senegalese firm Amar Energies is a minority partner. Taranis is the investment arm of the Perenco Group and operates the 50 MW Kita Solar Plant through its Energy for Africa fund, an asset that entered the grid following Taraniss acquisition of Akuo Energys African business.

The Tamba battery would be nine times the 20 MWh unit at the Walo Solar Plant, a 16 MW development that Africa REN built for USD 40 million with debt from FMO and the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund. Walo entered commercial operation and was inaugurated as the first grid-connected solar-plus-storage plant in the region focused on frequency regulation, with Senelec offtaking its output under a 20-year take-or-pay contract.

Network access for the plant ties into a substation at the end of a 285.3 km, 225 kV transmission line constructed by the Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) with USD 91.5 million of World Bank financing through IDA. Senelec has also tendered a further 500 MW of solar at two sites, pairing 100 MW and 400 MWh of battery storage under an EPC-plus-finance model, and the government is targeting 40% of electricity from renewables while pursuing universal access under its National Energy Pact. Taranis is additionally developing the 26 MW Newton Solar Plant in Sierra Leone and its Energy for Africa fund targets 1,000 MW of renewable capacity in operation.