Guinea-based special purpose company Tè Power Company, which is sponsored by Africa-focused energy project developer Endeavour Energy, has reached financial close and started construction on the $121-million Tè Power Plant project – a 50 MW greenfield thermal power plant in Conakry, Guinea.
The project will be the first internationally developed, finance institution project-financed independent power project (IPP) in Guinea and meets stringent local and international environmental requirements, including those of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
Endeavour is backed by global private equity firm Denham Capital, which provided $32-million in equity for the project, and the minority partner in the Tè project is Mauritanian mining and power company Energie.
Tè Power Company secured $89-million in debt financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) and CDC Group for the project.
Opic also provided up to $30-million of political risk insurance.
The project’s construction is expected to take 15 months to complete, with the plant scheduled to start operations in mid-2019.
About 150 jobs will be created during the construction period, while 40 people will be employed at the plant once it is operational.
Tè Power Company president Amadou Ba said the project is fully aligned with Guinea’s national economic and social development goals and represents the first step in Endeavour’s commitment to a growing partnership with the Guinea government and to delivering additional power solutions in the years ahead for the people of Guinea.
The Tè project is specifically designed to help alleviate the power deficit in Guinea by increasing power supply by 10% and to provide reliable power as needed to meet the country’s future power demand.