The minister of finance and budget and the minister of energy have signed a memorandum of understanding with Argentina-based Alcaal Group relating to the feasibility studies of a photovoltaic plant with a capacity of up to 200 MW with large storage capacity on the outskirts of the country’s capital.

Representatives of Argentina-based Alcaal Group visited Chad at the beginning of August to discuss the prospects for investing in the country’s agribusiness and renewable energies, Idriss Déby, the Central African country’s president, announced on social media networks.

Two days later, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the minister of finance and budget, the minister of energy and the company. The agreement concerns feasibility studies for the construction, operation and maintenance of a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of up to 200 MW with storage on the outskirts of N’djamena, the capital of Chad.

In early July, the United Nations Development Program launched the “Sun Health” project in the country, which suffers from a lack of a reliable source of energy – only 6.4% of the Chadian population has access to reliable electricity. Funded to the tune of more than $3 million, the initiative aims to install solar panels in 150 health centers in the country.

Chad had an installed solar capacity of 1 MW at the end of 2019, according to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The US Agency for International Development estimates the landlocked country has only 125 MW of total power generation capacity, the bulk of which is diesel and heavy fuel oil which mainly serves N’Djamena.