Yeleen Rural Electrification Project in Burkina Faso

Shifting rural energy models designed to increase people’s “access to energy” to focus on “access to clean energy.”

Burkina Faso is a landlocked Least Developed Country where electricity generation is 80 percent reliant on fossil fuels. While 70 percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas, only 3 percent of these people have access to electricity. The government of Burkina Faso currently subsidises diesel generation in the remote areas, a situation which is unsustainable from both climate change and economic standpoints.

This project aims to create a paradigm shift towards low-emissions electricity access by using a public sector intervention to provide an enabling environment for the private sector which will operate solar mini-grids. The project will include installing 100 mini-grids in Burkina Faso using result based payments to private sector operators, and improving the regulatory framework in order to mobilise private sector capital in renewable energy based rural electrification investments. Micro-finance institutions will be encouraged to provide loans to productive users in the areas where solar mini-grids will be installed.

The project has an estimated lifespan of nearly 7 years.