Challenge
Although increased access to electricity has fueled strong economic growth in Côte d’Ivoire over the past decade, power is still limited, reaching only about half of the country’s rural population.
Solution and Impact
Political risk insurance is supporting a project to build a 46 MW biomass power plant along with a substation and a 350-meter transmission line connecting to the electricity grid. The plant, which will generate power from palm tree leaves and trunks, will be the country’s first large scale biomass plant feeding into the grid and the largest power plant fueled by agricultural waste in West Africa. DFC is providing reinsurance to Chubb European Group SE, which will be insuring Meridiam Africa Infrastructure Fund’s investment in the project.
This project was profiled in 2021.