Alleviating electricity shortages in West Africa
BEIJING, Feb. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — A news report by haiwainet.cn:
On December 3, 2022, the inauguration of the Gouina Hydropower Station, which is owned and managed by the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS), financed by the Export-Import Bank of China, and constructed by PowerChina, was held in the Diamou area of the Kayes region.
The inauguration was co-chaired by Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Mali. He warmly congratulated the successful completion of the Gouina hydropower station, thanks to the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy in Mali for their strong support for the power construction in Mali and even West Africa. He also thanked PowerChina for its contribution to the project implementation.
The Gouina Hydropower Station falls along the Senegal River in Mali. The dam is 19 meters high, with a total length of 1317 meters and a storage capacity of 136 million cubic meters. It took 6 years to complete the construction. According to PowerChina, the Gouina Hydropower Station is one of the largest construction projects invested by Chinese companies in Mali.
As a large-scale infrastructure project in the area involved in the “Belt and Road” initiative, once operational, the station is expected to generate about 621 million kilowatt-hours of power. It will form a cascade reservoir and stations with Manantali and Felou hydropower stations, contributing to a continuous and stable power grid covering a large region. The grid will overcome power shortages in Mali and boost local industrial and social and economic development. Besides Mali, the grid will send power to Senegal and Mauritania in West Africa, which will improve local people’s quality of life.
In 2003, the Mali office of PowerChina was officially established, and PowerChina’s first bridge project entered the Mali market. In 2009, PowerChina acquired the Felou Hydropower Station under the framework of OMVS through IOB. Up to now, PowerChina has set up six regional headquarters, 453 branches in more than 120 countries around the world.