Niger's first wind farm, Parc Eolien de la Tarka, will be built in Tahoua, southern Niger, with a planned capacity of 250 gigawatts. It will be made up of 60 wind turbines. It will be approved for construction as early as next year and will be online by 2025, African Power Journal reported.
According to Niger's Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energy, the Tahoua region has abundant wind resources and can produce competitive clean electricity. When commissioned, the Parc Eolien de la Tarka project is expected to increase Niger's power generation capacity by more than 40 percent , create more than 500 jobs during the construction phase and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons per year.
"This is a transformational project that will significantly increase our grid-connected power generation capacity and will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs over the next 10 years, thus stimulating rapid economic growth in Niger." Niger's Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energy Sani Mahamadou stressed.
In addition, Niger's first wind farm will be able to export electricity to neighboring countries at competitive prices, further helping to diversify Niger's energy mix. The wind farm is part of the West African Power Consortium project (WAPP), which aims to create a power network that will create a regional electricity market in West Africa through top-level design and the necessary infrastructure.
According to Niger's strategic energy plan, 30 percent of the country's electricity will come from renewable sources by 2030, and the country's indigenous power capacity will increase at least fivefold to 2 gigawatts.
