E. Orlind Cooper
Freetown, 31 January 2023: The World Bank has commenced activities under its new Regional Emergency Solar Power Intervention Project (RESPITE) in Freetown, Sierra Leone to upsurge electricity access to millions of existing and prospective consumers in Liberia, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
The signing ceremony to kick up RESPITE took place in Freetown on 31 January 2023.
RESPITE is a $311 million regional project supported by the World Bank and approved on December 20, 2022, to rapidly increase grid-connected renewable energy capacity and strengthen regional integration in the participating countries.
“We are paying far more for energy now than we were 18 months ago. Very high and rising energy prices continue to have an adverse impact on other sectors of our economies,” said His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, who presided over the official signing of RESPITE’s financial agreements, in the presence of official delegations from Chad, Liberia, Togo, the West Africa Power Pool, the World Bank, and other key stakeholders. “This regional intervention is much needed in the short term. Today, our countries are taking a bold step in the right direction. RESPITE is the beginning of a revolution in energy supply and access,” he added.
RESPITE will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by financing the installation and operation of approximately 106 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power with batteries and storage systems, 41 megawatts expansion of hydroelectric power capacity, and by supporting electricity distribution and transmission interventions across the four countries. It also includes a regional approach, providing $20 million to help the West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) to enhance the potential for power trade in West Africa and facilitate knowledge sharing among ECOWAS member countries.
As highlighted by Mr. Bernard Hessou, WAPP Director of Planning, Investment Programming and Environmental Safeguards, “RESPITE fully supports the WAPP in achieving its goals of expanding access to competitive and climate-friendly electricity supplies for ECOWAS citizens. It will help create new opportunities for improving the quality of life while providing additional support to the WAPP in the preparation of its priority projects and in the establishment of a regional electricity market across the ECOWAS countries.”
RESPITE offers a more sustainable and affordable solution to a cleaner energy sector and will pave the way for the ambitious expansion of clean energy generation in the future in West Africa. As part of the launch, a Regional Energy Sector Roundtable was held prior to the Signing Ceremony to specifically discuss how deployment of renewable energy can help countries lower costs, reduce emissions, and ensure universal energy access to support economic transformation in West Africa.
“RESPITE complements other existing regional projects by adding the first competitively and publicly procured clean and affordable renewable energy to the region’s power mix, while also enhancing regional integration, expanding the potential for power trade, and improving the enabling environment for integration of renewable energy in the future,” said Ms. Boutheina Guermazi, World Bank Director for Regional Integration for Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Northern Africa.
