PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Atersa to supply PV systems for 227 villages in Senegal

On August 8, US company AstroPower Inc., located in Newark, New Jersey, announced that its Spanish subsidiary Atersa S.A. will design and install PV systems to power 227 rural villages in Senegal.

The project is part of Senegal's rural development program and will install a total of 425 kW. The Spanish government will cover the costs of around €7.5 million ($7.3 million).

Next year, Atersa will design and install approximately 16 stand-alone systems in each of the 227 villages. About 10 to 12 streetlight will be powered each by a 75 W module. The other PV systems, which will consist of four 85 W modules, will be used to power social and religious centers, schools and health facilities.

Senegal is located in the sub-Saharan region of Africa and has a population of about 10 million people. About 50% of the population lives in rural areas, and less than 300 of Senegal's 13,000 villages are connected to the grid. A 1999 study by IEA PVPS Task III estimated that Senegal could theoretically use around 43 MW of PV power. At that time, approximately 800 kW had already been installed with the financial assistance of international development organizations. One major donor was the German Organization for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), which provided about 2,000 solar home systems (SHS). Another donor, the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA), began funding a 100 SHS project two years ago (see PI 9/2000, p. 8).