Vinci Energies, a division of French concessions and construction company Vinci, has won a $218 million contract to build a 1,350 km electricity transmission and distribution network in Senegal.
The three-year contract, which was awarded in early January 2024 by Senegal’s state electricity company (Senelec), which has a monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the country, also involves the construction of eight high voltage transformer stations. .
Vinci will also oversee the installation of a remote control interface to facilitate the detection of faults in overhead and underground electricity transmission lines.
The entities of Vinci Omeron Senegal and Omeron Morocco will also support the training of local staff in the management of the electricity infrastructure. At least 1,000 jobs will be created during the construction and operation phase, according to the company. No timelines have been given for the start and end of the project, which will take 36 months to build.
“This project is part of a wider program to expand Senegal’s transmission and distribution network, with the aim of efficiently and sustainably strengthening the country’s energy capacity by 2026 and moving towards access universal to electricity,” Vinci said in a statement.
The expansion of transmission and distribution infrastructure will partially support Senegal’s additional generation capacity from hydropower and other renewable sources, such as the recently completed $422 million Simbalangalou Dam, an initiative of the ‘Gambia River Basin Development Organization which includes Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
Simbalangalou, which is located on the Gambia River in Senegal with a generating capacity of 128MW, has been built by Vinci and electricity from the dam will be fed into the grids of the four countries. Senegal currently has an electricity generation capacity of 1,500 MW from hydro, solar, wind, biomass and gas.
An additional 323 MW is expected to be added to the country’s capacity from new grid-connected solar installations and a further 158.7 MW from wind power, driving urgent demand for improved stability and capacity of the network of Senegal.
Last November, Senelec tendered the construction of 2,543.5 km of low-voltage overhead and underground lines, as well as substations, as part of the densification and expansion of Senegal’s network as part of the project to improve the access to electricity.
