Ebene, Mauritius, (Tembo Power Holdings) April 6, 2021. Tembo Power Holdings (“TPH”) has appointed Bertrand Rochecouste Collet, currently a senior technical director at Zutari (previously Aurecon, a consulting engineering firm based in Pretoria, South Africa), effective June 1, 2021. Bertrand, 42, will join the company’s Board of Directors, and hold the title of Managing Director in charge of engineering, in an effort to help TPH rise as a leading hydropower IPP for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Bertrand, fluent in both English and French, brings nearly twenty years of hydropower engineering experience, having led the dam and hydropower service line for the Africa region at his previous employment. His project experience pertains predominantly to the African continent and includes work in more than 24 African countries, overseeing the entire project lifecycle of greenfield dams and run of river hydropower schemes from desktop studies through to bankable feasibility studies, financial close and construction, commissioning as well as operations and performance review.
Bertrand has held various roles across the entire hydropower activities spectrum for the most reputable investors and lenders in the industry: owner’s engineer, lender’s technical advisor, Design & Construction in an EPC model as well as engineering / project manager in an EPCM one, thus being involved in a significant share of those small to medium hydropower projects in Africa in the past decade.
“We are so excited to welcome Bertrand, the reference in Africa when it comes to hydropower engineering. Hydropower is very different from other renewable technologies, in the sense that most often engineers have diverging views about a given site. While it is obviously key to find implementable engineering solutions, they also have to be profitable, and optimal from an environmental & social perspective. Bertrand knows our projects at least as much as we do, having led all our technical studies. In addition to designing optimal solutions from a technical and economical point of view, Bertrand is used to bringing solutions on the practical and constructable aspects. He also interacts with legal counsels, as well as financial advisors, regulatory bodies, lenders, investors, off-takers, etc. to find the right balance that will make a project happen. Bertrand’s role in the company will be severalfold: advising towards the closing of our current projects, expanding our portfolio to more projects and countries, and growing our engineering team by hiring junior profiles and instill this pragmatic approach that made Bertrand instrumental to so many transactions in the last few years. Finally, Bertrand perfectly fits within our equity financing strategy - which at project level consists in partnering with reputable fund managers active in Africa – as he is highly regarded by them.” says Raphael Khalifa, TPH Founder.
Tembo Power Holdings is an Independent Power Producer with a focus on small hydropower in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is currently holding rights for 13 projects across Kenya, DRC, Burundi and Cameroon, for a total installed capacity of circa 300MW. Run of river hydropower is one of the most environmentally friendly energy technologies globally, and projects between 10MW and 50MW offer affordable and reliable electricity in areas where the national electrical utilities need it most.