The European Union, through the Ianda-Guinea project, in collaboration with the Portuguese NGO TESE, has built the country’s largest photovoltaic power plant on the Guinean island of Bolama, an NGO source told Lusa.
Alfredo Pais, energy sector manager at TESE in Guinea-Bissau, told Lusa that the photovoltaic installation in Bolam is supported by 1,091 550-watt solar panels installed on a 6,500-square-meter plot of land.
These panels can produce 600 kW peak energy (peak kilowatt, a unit of power that characterizes photovoltaic panels), further enhanced by lithium batteries capable of producing 1.5 megawatts of energy, which could power the island of Bolama, home to approximately five thousand people. residents within 24 hours.
At the moment, as part of the project, which is in the testing phase, 12 kilometers of electrical cables have been laid throughout the city of Bolama, thanks to which some areas of the historical center already have street lighting.
The capital of what was then Portuguese Guinea until 1941, Bolama, like most towns in Guinea-Bissau’s interior, has faced electricity shortages for several years.
The photovoltaic plant, built with full funding from the European Union of about three million euros, is simply awaiting the recommendation of the Guinean government to start supplying energy to the population.
In addition to the Bolama plant, which Alfredo Pais considers the “great project” of the Ianda Guinea Action, in its component “Luz cu Yagu” (Light and Water), in which TESE participates, the initiative also intervenes in the water field in Mansoa, Encheya and Sanzanbato. places in northern Guinea-Bissau.
Ianda Guinea is a European Union initiative that aims to help communities solve their problems together and can provide them with economic opportunities.
Alfredo Pais noted that from a technical point of view, the Bolama plant is “already ready.”
In the first stage, the plant will supply energy to about 550 customers at a price that has not yet been determined by infrastructure managers, Pais said.
“We try to match it with household income and then scale it according to the budget available,” noted the Portuguese technician, speaking on behalf of the European Union and Guinea’s Ministry of Energy, partners in the project.
There are several examples of projects similar to Bolama’s in Guinea-Bissau that failed due to poor management or technical problems.
Aladje Adoulay Djalo, a Guinean technician working with TESE, does not guarantee that the plant installed on the island is operating without problems, but said they have taken recommendations from the past.
“It’s difficult to say that it will work 100% well, but one of our advantages when we talk about this plant is that we already have recommendations from other plants,” Adulai Djalo noted.
The power has not yet reached homes, but the people of Bolama are already seeing improvements in their lives, especially in terms of trade, evening school hours and public safety.
This was told to Lusa by Paulo Gomes, 68, who was born and raised in Bolam but has seen virtually no electricity on the island since the Portuguese left Guinea-Bissau in 1975, he noted.
“In colonial times, energy was everywhere,” noted Gomez, for whom electricity from the new power plant will help develop Bolama, “the most backward region” in Guinea-Bissau.
Dala Balde, 23, left Bissau to try to train as a teacher at a teacher training school in Bolam. To this day, the young woman is learning using the light of her cellphone and hopes to soon change that reality, she told Lusa.
Dala Balde’s problem is whether he has enough money to buy the energy that the photovoltaic plant will sell.
“I study from my mobile phone (…) because where I live we don’t have electricity. If the project turns on the power, I won’t be able to pay rent. [de casa]buy food and then pay for electricity,” Balde said.
The girl took advantage of the opportunity and appealed to the country’s authorities, emphasizing that “studying by candlelight causes problems with the eyes.”
The owner of one of the few restaurants and hostels on the island, Ngouabi Junior, is rubbing his hands with joy at the arrival of electricity, which he says will also lead to more tourists, investors and new local development projects.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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