AfrElec: Sendou coal-fired power project again feeding Senegal grid

The Sendou coal-fired power plant, which has lain dormant since July 2019, has been delivering commercial power to the Senegal national grid for nearly a week after its successful recommissioning.

The 125-MW Sendou project, a partnership between investor Barak Fund, which operates from South Africa, the Senegalese government and state-owned power company Senelec, aims to reduce the country’s reliance on expensive fuel oil.

Barak said on December 3 that the fund and its partners in Sendou will bring in an additional third-party strategic partner and investor later to convert the facility to a gas-fired power project.

Senelec chief executive Papa Madembe Biteye said Sendou, now the largest power plant operating in the country, was “a critical national asset”.