Sierra Leone's grid gains its first big plant in a decade

Sungrow commissioned a World Bank-backed solar plant with 35 MWh of storage in a country where the grid goes dark up to 18 hours a day.

Sungrow has commissioned a solar-plus-storage project in Sierra Leone that it says is the first national-scale generation project connected to the country's grid in nearly a decade. The World Bank-backed project pairs a solar array — capacity undisclosed — with a 35 MWh battery system built from eight of the manufacturer's PowerTitan units.

The context is what makes 35 MWh significant. Sierra Leone has one of the lowest electricity access rates in the world; roughly 90% of those who do have power are in Freetown, only five of 16 regional capitals get partial supply, from diesel generators and hydro, and the national grid runs daily outages of up to 18 hours. The batteries' black-start capability was used during commissioning itself, forming a microgrid off solar with no grid behind it to lean on.

This is the first rung of energy abundance — not cheaper power for people who already have it, but any reliable power for people who do not. The project sits inside the World Bank's RESPITE programme, which targets lifting national access from 16% to 36%, and follows the 30 MW Newton and 10 MW Lungi solar plants inaugurated in June.

By AFSIA's count the country now has 364 MW of operating solar and 28 MWh of storage, with 62 MW and 18.4 MWh more under construction. Watch whether the access rate moves with capacity; it usually lags. And note that this project's solar capacity was not disclosed, so its own contribution cannot be sized.

Source: pv magazine