The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE) has received a grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB), for the implementation of the West Africa Regional Desert-to-Power Program (WAREP) and intends to apply a portion of this grant to payments made under the grant for the hiring of a consulting firm to conduct feasibility studies on Clean Mini-Grids in Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali and Niger.

WAREP seeks to catalyse growth in access to electricity by addressing primarily financial barriers to private sector-led distributed power generation and mini-grid development from renewable energy in the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The program comprises three components.

Component 1 is being implemented by the West African Power Pool (WAPP) and involves the conduct of pre-feasibility studies for the Sahel Backbone and regional solar parks.

Component 2 is being implemented by ECREEE and involves the preparation activities for the ECREEE Regional Mini-Grid Program and Capacity Building.

Component 3 covers the Project Management activities of both WAPP and ECREEE.

There are two sub-components of Component 2:

(i) decentralized energy solutions to develop an actionable regional mini-grid program;

(ii) to support a regional capacity building and certification program targeting mass training of technicians and relevant stakeholders.

Part of the project’s resources is used by ECREEE to fund the services of selected staff of the Project Implementation Unit, including the Program Coordinator.