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Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Renewable Energy Agency provide financing facility for the renewable project

A new solar park project in Freetown, Sierra Leone was launched earlier this week. This is a landmark project in Sierra Leone and financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the Renewable Energy Agency.

The park is a landmark project for many reasons. Together with the Project Manager and EPC Contractor, the project total costs have been reduced from the initial USD18 million allocation to only USD12.6 million for all project components, including certain critical infrastructure additions. It is the first such project that the ADFD has embarked in the country.

It was initiated and coordinated by late Ambassador Siray Alpha Timbo and Dr. Bahige Annan, the Consul General of Sierra Leone in Dubai, UAE, then developed with the Project Manager, Filip Matwin, CEO of ASIC.

The Solar Park Project will provide a substantial access to clean renewable and sustainable electricity to both urban and western rural districts around the capital, Freetown, a first in the history of the country.

The Solar Park Freetown Project has been designed to include a number of institutional and human resource arrangements for sustainable management and international best practices of the project facility. The Project has been specifically structured to ensure a clear knowledge transfer element, both in terms of maintenance but also to carry out similar projects in the future, in line with the government’s goal of sustainable electrification in Sierra Leone.

The total cost of the project, which budget has been considerably reduced over the year by the Project Consortium (PM & EPC), include other assets such as an upgrade of road and grid-power infrastructure, with a necessary extension of the grid power line and a distribution substation all forming part of the total project.

This article was written in collaboration with the Africa Press Organisation – APO news organisition

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from African Business Magazine http://ift.tt/2BqfmFq