Côte d’Ivoire’s 50 MWp Kong Solaire project has secured long-term financing from Dutch development bank FMO, clearing a major financial milestone for a solar power plant already under construction in the country’s northern region. The project is being developed by Kong Solaire SAS, a company backed by Ivorian developer Africa Via, pan-African group AXIAN and the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) through its project development arm, InfraCo Africa.
Although the agreement has been reported as a €50 million financing deal, FMO’s project disclosures detail a total package of up to €55.5 million. This comprises a €50.5 million senior secured loan for the solar plant and a separate €4.5 million loan for associated transmission infrastructure. The main loan has a 20-year tenor, giving the project access to long-term financing that FMO says is not available in Côte d’Ivoire’s local commercial banking market on comparable terms.
Located near the town of Kong in northern Côte d’Ivoire, the plant is expected to generate approximately 96 GWh of electricity annually, which will be supplied to the national grid. Electricity sales will be governed by a 25-year power purchase agreement with CI-ENERGIES, providing a long-term contractual basis for the project’s revenue. Once operational, the facility is expected to supply electricity equivalent to the needs of around 240,000 people and avoid approximately 54,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. These figures are results already achieved.
The project’s financing structure also addresses the infrastructure needed to deliver electricity beyond the solar plant itself. The separate €4.5 million facility will fund transmission infrastructure that is expected to be transferred to the Ivorian government upon completion. This distinction matters because adding generation capacity does not automatically guarantee that electricity can be transported reliably to the wider network. Coordinating plant construction with grid infrastructure is therefore part of bringing the project into operation.
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Kong Solaire forms part of Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to diversify an electricity system that relies substantially on natural gas-fired thermal power and hydropower. The government has set a target of increasing renewables’ share of the energy mix to 45% by 2030, and the project is among the country’s early privately developed utility-scale solar projects. Its development model also brings together local project development, private investment and international development finance, with the aim of establishing a structure that can be replicated in future projects.
Construction is already underway, with commissioning scheduled for 2028 after an estimated construction period of about 18 months. The financing agreement therefore advances a project that has moved beyond the planning stage, although the plant will not contribute electricity to the grid until it is completed and commissioned. For Côte d’Ivoire, the next test is execution: completing the facility and transmission infrastructure on schedule so that the contracted solar generation can become part of the country’s electricity supply.
