Solar Energy: Minister Bachir Ismaël Ouédraogo Discuses with Private Sector Actors

The Minister of Energy, Mines, and Quarries, Bachir Ismael Ouédraogo, presided this Tuesday, June 29th, 2021 in Ouagadougou, the opening ceremony of the workshop of exchanges with private sector actors on the opportunities of solar energy in Burkina Faso. During the work, the Department of Energy intends to collect proposals from stakeholders to better capitalize on investments that will be made in the field of solar energy.

It is recognized that Burkina Faso has the best sunshine in West Africa. However, this energy potential is not sufficiently exploited by the country of men of integrity. Aware of this and driven by the desire to change things, the government now intends to focus on solar energy to compensate for the energy deficit and overcome the load shedding that Burkina Faso is experiencing.

“Burkina has a huge potential in terms of solar energy. The government has the vision and under the leadership of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, we decided to resolutely embark on the path of solar energy. This makes Burkina Faso the champion in the sub-region in this area,” said Minister Ismael Bachir Ouédraogo.

To achieve this, the government needs the participation of private sector actors operating in the field of solar energy. “We have capitalized about 500 megawatts of solar investment. We give the vision, the mechanism, we facilitate things but it is the private sector that is in the realization. It was good that we could exchange together to see how the Burkinabe private sector will take the best advantage of this boom in solar energy. That’s why we got together because there is no better interlocutor than them to enable the establishment of mechanisms to enable the private sector of Burkina Faso to take advantage of this windfall, “said Bachir Ismael Ouédraogo.

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Private sector actors are committed to accompanying the government in its new vision

The presence of the private sector alongside the government also aims, according to the head of the energy sector, to enable it to get the best out of the investments that will be made in the sector. “We must be well prepared so that the investments we are going to have can be capitalized in Burkina Faso and we must be able to accompany them to make the transformation on the local level,” said the Minister of Energy.

Burkina Faso now has the first solar panel assembly plant in the sub-region. For Bachir Ouédraogo, in addition to this factory, the country must have an assembly unit for meters, electric cables and other materials used in the energy sector. “If you manufacture meters in Burkina, Sonabel will buy them, if you manufacture cables we will buy them. The Burkinabe private sector must be able to benefit from investments,” he added before concluding: “If we do not have mechanisms to support these factories that are being created, we will always be buying from outside. The debts that we will incur will go back the same way.

The representatives of the banking sector and the private sector said they were ready to accompany the government in this vision whose goal is to allow the actors of the field to take better advantage of the investments.

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(Featured image by LCEC via Pixabay)

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First published in lefaso.net, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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