A project in Cote d’Ivoire was the recipient of the top prize at the 2nd West Africa Forum for Clean Energy Financing (WAFCEF2). The top prize was given for the Ivoire Hydropower Energy project, a start-up driven by Etty Ekolan Alain. The hydro project’s blueprint looks to design, construct and operate a 44-MW hydropower plant on the Bandama river under a concession agreement signed with the government in December 2013, according to a statement by the AfDB.
Alain said upon receiving the award: “I feel a lot of emotion for my project to have been selected winner of this award. I am proud of all the work done by my team. I worked in the energy sector for 25 years, and that made it possible for us to identify the gaps which our project will help to solve.”
Ten entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to showcase their clean power project strategies to a panel of financiers and investors at the WAFCEF2 last week. The 10 power projects were selected from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal. Their focus varied from biofuels, biomass, biogas, hydropower, solar, and waste-to-energy the AfDB went on to say in its statement.