Rosatom announces plans to build a nuclear power plant in a Sahel state. Learn more about this significant energy project and its potential impacts.
The Russian company’s engineers have traveled to Burkina Faso for a four-day trip in order to confer about the project.
Rosatom, the Russian government owned nuclear energy company, is currently holding a business meeting in Burkina Faso to explore options of installing a nuclear power plant in one of the most underdeveloped countries worldwide when it comes to access to electrical power.
According to local media, the representatives of the Burkinabe Energy Ministry were met and discussions held with by the team on Tuesday after their arrival in West Africa.
Yacouba Zabré Gouba, the energy minister of Ouagadougou informed that technical matters and preparing for the project commencement would be the main topics of discussion with Rosatom delegation over a four-day visit.
According to the African Initiative news website, Gouba stated during the meeting that they consider energy as a key factor in achieving true sovereignty for their country on such matters. Thus, they believe that having a nuclear power plant is crucial.
According to the World Bank, Burkina Faso had a mere 19.5% of its population with access to electricity as at 2022. Despite having over 20 million residents, this landlocked country has an energy mix primarily reliant on fossil fuels and a power generation capacity of just 420 megawatts.
In October of last year, the Sahel state entered into an agreement with Rosatom to construct a nuclear power plant. The request was made by interim leader Ibrahim Traore during the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg and addressed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Energy minister Gouba expressed on Tuesday that the visit by Rosatom team brought much hope for the Burkinabe government to tackle with its energy challenges.
Russian relations are being considered by experts from Africa.
Alexander Renev, the chief engineer of Rosatom stated that although an exact date for the completion of this plant cannot be given, they will exert utmost effort to ensure its prompt delivery.
This is not the initial venture of the Russian state corporation in the Sahel region as they previously worked on a project. In May, NovaWind – Rosatom’s wind energy branch – announced that Mali’s Energy Ministry approved constructing a 200 MW solar power plant beside Bamako; costing $217 million which could elevate electricity production up to 10%. Grigory Nazarov, director of NovaWind confirmed this news.
